Arthur Evan Rommel, 1877-1916

ROMMEL

Posted By: Pat Ryan White (email)
Date: 6/13/2010 at 09:44:00

A.E. Rommel '02

Arthur Evan Rommel, a graduate of the College of Civil Engineering in the class of 1902, lost his life by drowning in the Des Moines River near Oskaloosa, Iowa, on February 26th [1916]. Rommel was the county engineer of Mahaska County, Iowa. He was superintending a gang of men who were trying to dislodge an ice gorge in the river, when the boat in which he was working was capsized. He was encumbered by a heavy fur coat and was swept away in the flood waters before help could reach him. His body was recovered two days afterward.

Rommel was born in Henry County, Iowa, on November 26, 1877. His father, Alexander Rommel, is the dean of Iowa Wesleyan College at Mount Pleasant. The son attended that college and was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity there. He entered Cornell in 1898 and took the C. E. degree in 1902. After his graduation he was employed in railroad construction work in Wyoming, South Dakota, and other states by the Chicago & North Western Railroad. He went to Oskaloosa to live about two years ago. His wife, a son, and two daughters survive him.

'Cornell Alumni News', Volume XVIII, No. 24, Ithaca, NY, March 16, 1916