Ethiopia RPCV A. Gene Rosaschi dies in Cleveland at 67
A. Gene Rosaschi, 67, Laurel teacher
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Alana Baranick
Plain Dealer Reporter
A. Gene Rosaschi, who enlivened his Laurel School social studies classes with his personal experiences as a world traveler, died of a heart attack April 8 at his Cleveland home. He was 67.
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Laurel School chapel, 1 Lyman Circle, Shaker Heights 44122. Donations may be made to the Gene Rosaschi Scholarship Fund at the school.
Rosaschi shared vivid stories of his years as a teacher in Iran and Ethiopia and his visits to India, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Costa Rica and other countries with his seventh- and eighth-graders.
Once a year, he threw a Middle Eastern tea party for his class at the girls school. Wearing a Moroccan robe called a jabala, he brewed Iranian tea in a Russian samovar and burned incense. He served tea with Syrian pastries to students seated on a Persian rug.
He led tours for students and their parents to such places as Thailand, Egypt, Turkey and the former Soviet Union.
Rosaschi, whose motto was "Be observant," showed his classes that many world cultures are represented close to home. He introduced students to traditional Ethiopian cuisine at the Empress Taytu restaurant in Cleveland. He encouraged them to take pictures of onion-domed Orthodox churches and other landmark buildings throughout the city.
He was born and raised in Yerington, Nev. He graduated from Oregon College of Education in Monmouth, Ore., in 1957.
Rosaschi took graduate courses at universities in Arizona, Alaska, Kansas and Minnesota. He received a Rockefeller Foundation grant for East Asian studies at the University of Michigan and a Fulbright study grant to study in Syria and Jordan.
As a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960s, he taught geography at Woizero Siheen Secondary School in Dessie, Ethiopia.
Rosaschi taught social studies and journalism at Community School in Tehran, Iran, from 1968 until 1979. He left before the shah of Iran was deposed and American diplomats were taken hostage by Islamic revolutionaries.
He taught at high schools in Oregon before and after his teaching stints abroad. He was a sixth-grade English teacher in Fallon, Nev., for a year before joining the Laurel School faculty in 1981. He retired three years ago.
His interests included photography, model train collecting, flowers, ballet, modern dance and theater.
Rosaschi is survived by his sister, Debra Garner of Seattle.
Arrangements were by Malloy Memorial Services of Cleveland.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
abaranick@plaind.com, 216-999-4828
