The Daily News-September 2004 BRUSCO, Roland Eugene, Sr. Age 80, of Cathlamet. He was the fifth child of 12 born to Italian immigrant parents, Julius and Mary Rose (Amato) Brusco, in Rainier, Ore. He spent his youth with his brothers and sisters; Louise, Helen, Michael, Woodrow, Robert, Henry, Dorine, Richard, Jack, Michael E., and Ronald. He showed his leadership abilities early in life as he was Student Body President of Rainier High School, Captain of his basketball team and received the Outstanding Graduating Boy student award graduating in 1941. He received a scholarship from Oregon State Univ. but with the excitement of WWII, he chose to join the Army Air Corps. On his first furlough home he met his wife, Cleo Jewell Pense of Longview. They married in Marfa, Texas. After attending Texas A&M, he became a navigator aboard an air/sea rescue vessel attaining the rank of Master Sergeant. He is survived by Cleo, along with their three children; daughters, Sharon Shuley of Laguna Beach, Calif. Mary Ann Mabey of Kelso, Roland "Bo" Brusco of Longview; two brothers, Richard in Austria and Michael E. of Longview; a sister, Dorine, in Oregon City, Ore.; 14 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren. He had an entrepreneurial drive from childhood where he picked wild blackberries, peeled and sold cascara bark, pulled weeds and sold vegetables from his own garden. He began his career by working on a tugboat for Wilbur J. Smith of Smith Tug and Barge. The Columbia River became his source of revenue as he ventured into his own business. He began by pioneering the art of raising sunken logs off the bottom of the river, perfecting a grapple that could raise them to the surface. He would then deliver them to paper mills along the Columbia. This was later done by barge. Prior to the endangerment listing of the Spotted Owl he was the largest commercial log dump operation in the history of the Columbia. Opportunities for growth led the Brusco family to Cathlamet in 1958. He operated a fleet of river tug-boats until his retirement in 1978, living in Longview until 1999. He owned Cottonwood Island with the dream of developing a major shipping port on the Columbia River. He was co-founder of Air Sensors which is currently a public traded stock. As his businesses grew and prospered he was named in the book, "Who's Who in the West. He was a generous man and always there to help those in need. He sponsored many local baseball and basketball teams. He was a member of various service clubs including the Shriners and Ducks Unlimited, He was on the Board of Columbia National Bank and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints. His life was taken as he suffered from Alzheimers disease. He lived his last years in the Columbia View Care Center in Cathlamet. Private family graveside services were held. Longview Memorial Park-Longview, Washington 11 Oct 1923-11 Sep 2004