Rotch was personally known to the leading meteorologists from Europe because he made it a point to attend all of the meetings of the International Meteorological Committee, and on many occasions was the sole American representative. From 1888 to 1891 and from 1902 to 1906, Rotch served as the first professor of meteorology at Harvard. He attended the Chicago Meteorological Congress of August 1893. During his career, Rotch authored 183 scientific papers and several books on the sciences of meteorology and aeronautics. From 1884 to 1895, he served as the associate editor of the "American Meteorological Journal". Rotch continued to work at the Blue Hill Observatory until his death on April 7, 1912, from a ruptured appendix. Under the terms of his will, the observatory was given to Harvard with an endowment of $50,000 for operating costs. Harvard operated the observatory until 1971 when it disassociated itself from the site. The Rotch endowment was kept by Harvard.