Barbara J. Rossier, an expert on special education who served on the faculty at the University of California at Irvine and the University of Southern California, has died after suffering from lung cancer. She was 78 years old.
Dr. Rossier was a native of Wyoming and graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. After earning a master’s degree at the University of Southern California, she took a job as a school counselor at Westminster High School where she met her husband Roger. The couple both went on to earn educational doctorates from USC.
The pair bought a small private school and turned it into a leading school of special education. The couple became wealthy through investing in real estate, educational publishing, and other ventures. In 1998, the couple donated $20 million to the School of Education, which was renamed in their honor. Barbara Rossier served as a trustee of the school from 1999 to the time of her death.