Jerry grew up on a 160 acre dairy farm in Jackson County. His parents purchased the farm after his father returned from serving in the US army in Italy during WW2.

After graduating high school from Melrose he attended 2 years of college at UW Lacrosse and then transferred to the engineering department at UW Madison. He graduated with a BS in chemical engineering in 1965 and then started his first engineering job at Globe Union (now Johnson Controls) in Milwaukee. His job as a process engineer was to make improvements to the way huge blocks of lead were turned into lead acid batteries that are used to start automobile engines.

With the accepted technology at the time there was a lot of waste lead oxide and sulfuric acid that were being discharged to the sewer. He soon became interested in learning more about wastewater treatment and waste minimization and decided to move his career in that direction.

Marquette University offered a series of evening engineering course where Jerry continued to work full time and enrolled in one evening course each semester to earn a MS degree in civil/sanitary engineering. For his master’s thesis he set up a wastewater treatment pilot plant in the battery factory and experimented with several treatment units on a small stream of their wastewater.

When the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 the DNR was designated as the agency to administer the law and in 1973 he was hired as an environmental engineer in the Industrial Wastewater Section. All Industrial and municipal wastewater was required to be treated in a system designed to remove most of the pollutants before discharge to waters of the state. This was exactly what Jerry had trained for and he was excited to be implementing this successful environmental law.

The best memories of Jerry’s DNR career were his visits to factories to see how things were made. He visited cheese factories, meat processors and vegetable canneries including sweet corn, beans, peas, pickles, sauerkraut, beets and potatoes. The Industrial wastewater Section was eventually split into a Physical Chemical Unit and a Biological Treatment Unit and he was promoted to leader of the biological unit.

When the DNR was reorganized in the mid 90’s Jerry had an opportunity to transfer to a business sector specialist position. This was a new type of job where the specialist would become familiar with certain business sectors and work cooperatively with the sector to improve relationships with the DNR. One of the sectors was aquaculture and he would organize periodic meetings of private fish farmers with appropriate DNR staff to discuss issues such as digging ponds, discharging water from their fish ponds, bait fish harvesting and importing fish from out of state. He also was the food processing and asphalt sector specialist. Jerry retired from this position in 2007.

Jerry married his high school sweetheart Sandy in 1965. They celebrated their 60 year wedding anniversary in 2025. They had 3 children together.

Hunting and fishing have always been some of Jerry’s favorite outdoor activities. He also enjoyed camping in state and national parks and backpacking throughout the country. Some of his favorite trails included the Appalachian Trail, Teton Crest Trail and the Bright Angel Trail down into the Grand Canyon. He was involved in leadership of Boy and Girl Scout troops and traveled to many places throughout the US by bus. His favorites were Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and The Philmont Scout Ranch.

After retirement Jerry was involved with Madison School Community Recreation (MSCR) as a volunteer pontoon driver and (unofficial) Madison tour guide. He was active in his church as a member of the board of trustees and handyman.

Throughout his life, Jerry was known for his carpentry and electrician skills and was a licensed Master Plumber. He was best loved for his homemade inventions: bike sail, mailbox extender, solar hot dog cooker, indoor fish farm, ice fishing shanty, and numerous kids toys.

He is survived by his wife Sandy (Schmidt); children Dennis (Julie), David (Lynda), and Julie Ballweg; grandchildren Alex (Emma), Emmett Ballweg, Madeline Ballweg; sister Darlene Finch, brother Donald (Kim) and a large family of nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles. He is preceded in death by his father Raymond, mother Marie and sister Nancy.

A Funeral Service at 2:00pm at Ryan Funeral Service & Legacy Center, 6728 Mader Drive, Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, February 28th, 2026. Visitation will be held at the funeral home from 1:00pm until the time of service. There will be a second funeral service and burial in Melrose, Wisconsin on Monday, March 2nd at the Melrose United Methodist Church. Visitation will take place from 10:00am until the time of service at 11:00am. Interment will follow the service at the Melrose cemetery. In lieu of flowers please send memorials to the American Heart Association or a conservation organization of your choice.

To view this obituary and leave a memory, please visit: www.ryanfuneralservice.com.

Ryan Funeral Service & Legacy Center
6728 Mader Drive
608-274-1000

Jerry Rodenberg

April 11, 1942 - February 19, 2026

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