David Edward Rowland, 77, passed away on September 6, 2026, following complications from a traumatic brain injury sustained while doing something that was very much Dave—riding his electric scooter around Lake Okoboji. He spent his life moving, exploring, creating, learning, and finding something new to be interested in. He was rarely content to sit still.
Dave was born on December 17, 1948, in Grand Island, Nebraska, to David Tuttle Rowland and Rosella Claris Ewers. His childhood was anything but ordinary. His father was a drummer who traveled with a band, and Dave and his mother moved frequently as they followed him around the country, creating Dave’s lifelong curiosity about people, places, and new experiences.
While attending the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Dave met Beverly Jean Falk on September 6, 1967. They lived across the hall from one another in an apartment complex and married one year later. They honeymooned at The Inn in Okoboji, Iowa—a place that would eventually become the heart and home of their family.
Dave and Bev were married for nearly 60 years and were both life partners and best friends. They built businesses together, traveled together, made friends together, and created a family together. Their life together took them from Nebraska to California, to Minnesota, and eventually back to California, where they lived in Cupertino, Lafayette, and Walnut Creek. He loved Napa Valley and the wine country so much that he and Bev eventually purchased a second home there.
Dave’s professional life reflected his natural curiosity and willingness to figure things out for himself. While working for Blum’s of California, he relocated to Jackson, Minnesota, where he taught himself how to program computers. That curiosity grew into a career in technology. He and Bev started Team Custom Software (later named Response, Inc.), providing software solutions to banks, pharmacies, and seed companies. Dave also started an Internet Service Provider serving southern Minnesota long before being connected to the internet was a part of everyday life. Rural Connections, as it was named, caught the attention of multiple larger entities, eventually folding into EarthLink. Dave continued his career with EarthLink as Director of Operations in its Acquisitions and Integration division, where he was responsible for bringing smaller ISPs acquired by EarthLink into the company’s operations, specifically including PeoplePC, where he became the Vice President and General Manager, retiring in 2007.
But for all of Dave’s interests and professional accomplishments, family was the center of his life. Okoboji became the family’s true home base, and every summer the family gathered there for what became known as Family Fourth. As the family grew, Dave adopted a numbering system: he assigned each person a “family number.” The numbers became ingrained into family tradition, appearing on the annual Family Fourth T-shirts and becoming the subject of good-natured speculation about who would receive the next number—a boyfriend, girlfriend, or baby.
These traditions were quintessentially Dave: organized enough to create a numbering system for his ever-growing family, but playful enough to turn it into a running joke that everyone enjoyed.
Dave had a remarkable ability to stay connected to people. He treasured old friendships and loved making new ones. Through Facebook, he reconnected with people from earlier chapters of his life and enjoyed picking up those relationships as though no time had passed. He embraced the good friends of his children and grandchildren, many times developing his own relationships and inside jokes with their friends. He was an active participant in family and friends’ group chats, including the 2026 All Family chat, Family FFL, Garden Chat, The 37 Game, Bird Chat, Tesla Friends and Family, Movie Chat, Cookers Chat, and Packers vs. Vikings Game Day. Dave didn’t just belong to those conversations—he often started them, responded to them, and kept them going. He had a knack for sending the quirky little update, the unexpected observation, or the message that made people smile. He liked knowing what everyone was doing, and he wanted everyone to know what he was doing, too.
Dave’s interests were as varied as his personality. He loved entertaining, mixing a good cocktail for friends, flying airplanes, gardening, cooking, technology, AI, travel, wine, movies, home improvement projects, and, of course, electric scooters. He could spend hours figuring out how something worked or thinking about how to make something better. Even mowing the lawn became an opportunity for innovation, thanks to his self-propelled mower, affectionately named “Clipper.”
He loved cooking for Bev and for the family at Family Fourth. He loved traveling with Bev, whether that meant the Caribbean, Paris, or a cross-country road trip. And he loved the simple pleasures of being at Okoboji with the people he loved.
David is survived by his wife and best friend of nearly 60 years, Beverly Jean Rowland, and their four children: Kristin (Patrick) Haberman of Owatonna, Minnesota; Kimberly (Chris) Lusk of Atlanta, Georgia; Mindy (Bradley Fulton) Rowland of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; and David (Anastasia Goggins) Rowland of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
He was a proud grandfather to Madeleine (David Antwi) Haberman, Mitchell (Jennifer) Haberman, Mackenzie Haberman, Michael Haberman, Jillian Buenger, Harrison Buenger, Olivia Fulton, Ryan Fulton, Ava Rowland, Lily Rowland, Ruby Rowland, and Beau Rowland.
He is also survived by our unnumbered loved ones: Josh Mikula, Mikenna Burgad, David Breiten, and Brent Holzem. Dave was preceded in death by his parents and four infant siblings.
Even in death, Dave found a way to continue helping someone else. He had chosen to be an organ donor, and his liver was eligible for donation through Live On Nebraska. Bev and his children were with him for his Honor Walk as his liver was donated to save another person’s life. It was a final act that was profoundly consistent with the life Dave lived (and one that we all giggled about amongst our tears)—one that was always connected to other people and, even at the end, continued beyond himself.
Dave leaves behind a family that will miss his voice in the group chats, his latest project, his next idea, his unexpected message, his stories, his humor, and his benevolent insistence on staying involved in everyone’s lives. Most of all, he leaves behind a family that was built around him and Bev, strengthened by the traditions they created, and filled with the people he loved so much.
Funeral services will be held on October 10, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. at Calvary United Methodist Church in Arnolds Park, Iowa, followed by interment at Lakeview Gardens Cemetery. A Celebration of Dave’s Life, including storytelling for those who want to share, will be at the family cabin beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Memorials may be sent to Live On Nebraska (liveonnebraska.org) or Careers through Culinary Arts Program (culinarycareers.org).
Arrangements are under the care of Turner Jenness Funeral Home.
