Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

Rod Zumbro, an OLLI member since 1993, created OLLI E-News, our Institute’s email newsletter with photos, color and clickable links, in 2005; the first issue was published in late July 2005. He edited OLLI E-News every week for the next eight years until he retired as editor in July 2013.

In 2003 Rod volunteered to take over as OLLI’s second webmaster. He completely redesigned our website, added much new content, and started the now-common practice of posting each term’s catalog online as soon as it is sent to the printer (usually weeks before members receive printed catalogs via postal mail). Rod left the webmaster job later that year but has continued to help maintain the website as part of the OLLI website team. In 2005 he again redesigned the website, this time with, among other improvements, better navigation with drop-down menus.

In 2004, he created the original 13-minute “Story of OLLI” movie and put it on DVD, videotape and the web so
prospective members could easily learn about OLLI. In 2011, Rod updated the “Story of OLLI” to include some newer clips and reduced its length to a more-watchable eight minutes. He has created many other short, OLLI-related videos, including reflections of almost all OLLI former presidents, and posted these videos for
easy, one-click access on the Videos page of our website.

He has instructed at OLLI and is a member of the E-News Committee.

Rod and his wife, OLLI member Susanne Zumbro, live in Springfield and enjoy art and music events,
visiting their 12 grandchildren, and occasional travel. Rod is a retired Navy Supply Corps captain whose last position was commanding officer of the 90-person Navy central procurement office for large computer systems.

Rod is an enthusiastic supporter of our wonderful Institute. He attended almost every Board meeting between 2003 and 2012, and he served as a Board member for two terms, from June 2006 until June 2012. He has always had a strong interest in transparency of OLLI governance actions and in keeping the membership fully informed on a timely basis.