Remembering Dave Rothstein: Lawyer, ice sculptor, doughnut-lover

NORTHAMPTON — Carolyn Cushing remembers the first time she met Dave Rothstein, when he showed up as a new land protection specialist at the offices of the Mass Audubon Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. The first thing he did, Cushing recalls, was ask if he could give her a hug.

“He had a big personality,” said Cushing, who later became the poet laureate for the city of Easthampton. “He would often burst in the office with something interesting to say. Sometimes he would just exclaim ‘Science!’”

But like Cushing, Rothstein, of Northampton, who died earlier this month at age 57, soon became known in the community for his creative endeavors outside his conservation work. He immersed himself in the world of ice and snow sculpture, a hobby he picked up while clerking for the Alaska Supreme Court before eventually returning to Massachusetts, the state of his birth.