“Caring is a powerful business strategy” ™ — Sharon Rossmark. This highly accomplished professional certainly lives by her creed.
Sharon Rossmark ’78 never aspired to be the executive producer and creative director of an award-winning documentary, but she is now. Rossmark, who recently retired as assistant vice president of agency distribution at Allstate Insurance, began the project as a labor of love. Inspired by her father’s WWII and D-Day invasion experiences, Rossmark made multiple trips with her father to the D-Day Beaches in Normandy, France, combed through archival photos and conducted numerous interviews that formed the heart of the documentary in which her father appeared.
David Brown served in the US Army from January 1943 to December 1945, assigned to the 490th Port Battalion, 226 Port Company, in the European Theater. He was drafted into the army just three days after marrying Rossmark’s mother. Brown was one of the first and few African-Americans to land on Utah Beach during the D-Day invasion and memories of the ferocious battle remain vivid in his mind yet today. Excerpts from “David Brown’s D-Day, the Story of a WWII Veteran” were included in the Emmy Award winning program “A Distant Shore, African Americans of D-Day,” shown on The History Channel.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think our documentary would lead to my father receiving an Emmy Award and being recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Academy,” said Rossmark.
Sharon Rossmark will soon enjoy some well-deserved recognition of her own when she receives the College of Business Hall of Fame Service Award for her long-standing dedication to the College and its mission. The award will be presented on April 2 as part of Business Week 2009.
