Died: October 26, 2018
David Rossiter grew up on a farm where his father taught him about horses at a very young age; and he came to love burros, Palomino horses, and Morgan horses, especially Morgans. He figured he’d be a vet, but in part because the vet school at which he interviewed specialized in cattle, not horses, he applied to dental school instead.
After graduation from Yale, David entered the University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry, earning his DMD in 1970; and he returned to Penn for another three years to earn a Specialty Certificate in Endodontics in 1974. While at Penn pursuing the Certificate, he developed a close relationship with the Vet School; and participating with members from the Vet School, he did a root canal on a tiger at the Zoo! Actually, he spent so much time at the Vet School that they put his picture and name in the Vet School Yearbook.
David had a mind and inclination for detail and precision. In 1971 he earned a Master’s at Connecticut in Measurement and Statistics, and even after earning his Specialty Certificate in Endodontics, he stayed at Penn and earned his PhD in Measurement and Statistics. And while maintaining his practice, on the possibility that someday he might want to teach or even seek a deanship at a dental school, he earned an MBA in Management at the University of Massachusetts in 1979.
Still, he was happy as an Endodontist and remained committed to the field and his patients. David had opened his own practice in Endodontics in Northampton, MA, and he maintained it successfully for 33 years until retirement. His wife Carla of twenty-five years said that he had a great practice, loved his patients, and was adored by them.
But if his Endodontics practice and patients were his first love, Morgan horses were a close second. One reason he’d chosen Northampton for his practice was that the area had many Morgan shows, and he enjoyed attending them. Drawing on a predilection for detail and gift for precision, he developed an interest in breeding them and studied Morgan bloodlines. He bought 77-acres of land near Mt. Holyoke, and he and his wife designed, oversaw the construction of, and built his “dream farm,” including a house, the way they wanted it to be. He spent his free time there. He bought and bred several Morgan mares, which had six foals over the years; and he raised and trained and showed them. He never sold any of them. He kept and maintained them like family.
David and Uldis Kruze, also Yale ’66, were good friends at Yale and attended some of the Class Reunions together. “Dave and I shared many good times at Yale, working out at Payne Whitney where we ran indoor track and tried to impress each other with how much weight we could lift,” Uldis recalled. “He was much beloved by his patients for his humor and easy touch…. He will be missed.”
David Walker