Professor David F. Grose (November 21, 1944 - October 13, 2004) was a world-renowned authority on the classification of early ancient glass from the Roman period.
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David Grose was born in the small farming town of Kenyon, Minnesota. He was the second child of Frederick and Marie Grose. When he was age 6 years, his family moved to Austin, Minnesota. He attended Austin Public Schools. His sixth grade teacher Janet Dickson remembered that his favorite subject was ancient Egypt. After graduation from high school, he attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He selected St. Olaf College because his great uncle, Ingebrikt Grose, had been a professor of Language and Religion at St. Olaf College shortly after its founding. While at St. Olaf College, Grose went on his first excavation to Native American sites in South Dakota. He also successfully competed for a Fulbright Scholarship to study Hadrian's Wall in England after he graduated from St. Olaf College in 1966.[1]
After completing his Fulbright fellowship, Grose attended Harvard University, as a graduate student in the Department of History. He wrote his doctoral thesis on the administration of the city of Rome under the Roman Republic. His advisor was Professor Mason Hammond. David wrote a considerable portion of his thesis while at the American Academy of Rome in Rome, Italy. David received his doctoral degree from Harvard in 1975.
Thereafter, he spent one year at the Museum of Art and Archeology at the University of Missouri, in Columbia, Missouri. While at Missouri, he was strongly influenced by the archeologist Gladys Davidson Weinberg to consider the study of ancient glass. Therefore, he spent another year at the Toledo Museum of Glass in Toledo, Ohio. Subsequently, he accepted a faculty position at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He continued to pursue his interest in Roman glass and spent many summers at the American Academy of Rome. In 1989, he published his monumental and authoritative textbooks called Early Ancient Glass (Hudson Hills Press). This book was quickly accepted as a definitive description of glass production during ancient Rome. Because of this accomplishment, Grose was selected for membership in the prestigious Society of Antiquaries of London.[2]
Later, Grose was chosen to be Chairman of the Department of Classics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He also was a consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, and the British Museum in London.
Professor David Grose died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His funeral was held in the Chapel of St. Olaf College. He is buried at Gol Church cemetery in Kenyon, Minnesota. (His great grandfather Johan Grose was a founding member of this church. He had emigrated from Stettin, Prussia, in 1854. Grose's great grandmother, Ingeborg Ness Grose, emigrated from Sogn, Norway, also in 1854.[3]
The David F. Grose Memorial Fund in Classics was established by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Classics at during the 2003-2004 academic year in order to provide support for our undergraduate students and the programs and scholarships that benefit them.[4]