Last November, several hundred guests, corporate sponsors and supporters attended the Tapestry Ball of The Long Island Home at which Chairman Robert F. Rose ’64 was honored.
The Long Island Home, a community health care system, raises awareness and funds for its behavioral health and geriatric programs through the Tapestry Ball, which also recognizes individuals who have contributed to fulfilling the organization’s mission.
Rose received the Tapestry of Life Award, given to one person each year for his or her commitment to advancing the quality of life on Long Island.
“I am humbled to have been selected,” says Rose. “I believe in the mission of The Long Island Home and, as chairman, I have the unique opportunity to support the talented professionals at our facilities, and communicate the quality and importance of the services they provide to Long Island.”
The Long Island Home’s facilities include South Oaks Hospital, Broadlawn Manor, and Health Partners of New York, and Rose heads the system’s eight-member board. It is one of many community and not-for-profit organizations of which he is, or has been, an active member. During his career, these involvements were important to him, and in retirement, he remains similarly dedicated.
“Throughout my career I worked for the Federal Reserve Bank, Lehman Brothers, Johnson & Higgins, and Marsh & McLennan. I retired as the managing director at Marsh in 1999. I now spend a day a week as an adviser to a small brokerage firm and devote much of my time to not-for-profit organizations.”
Rose also has remained active with Lafayette. He is connected through his own relationships and those of his sons, who followed his footsteps to the campus.
“Our two boys also graduated from Lafayette,” he says. “I am the past president of the Long Island Alumni Association and continue to participate as an alumni admissions rep.”
An economics graduate, Rose was the first in his family to attend college, an experience he believes was critical in his personal and profession formation.
“Lafayette in the early ’60s was an all-male school dominated by fraternities,” he says. “It was customary to rush and pledge a fraternity during your first semester. My experiences at Sigma Nu helped shape me into the person I am today. The exposure to diversification was eye-opening — eating side-by-side with two Iranian “princes” with their matching MGBs, along with sons of Pennsylvania coal miners, next to a few New England preppies and a California beach boy. It was sure different from high school on Long Island!”
“The opportunity to test leadership skills among your peers was also a challenge in a fraternity setting,” he says. “I was elected second-in-command in my junior year and had to balance being one of the boys with the responsibility of not allowing the boys to get too far out of line.”
Lafayette helped Rose find his first job, as well.
“I took advantage of the terrific placement department and signed up for several interviews on campus. I accepted a position as a management trainee. In a one-month period in 1964, I graduated from Lafayette, got married, and began my career on Wall Street.”
Forty-one years, four children, and four grandchildren later, Rose is grateful to the start that Lafayette gave him. And he recognizes that relationships have been what grounded all his experiences.
“There is no doubt that my Lafayette education, the school’s excellent reputation in the business world, and the well-run placement department were most instrumental in providing me with the opportunity to succeed,” he says. “Through it all, I have seen that relationships and respect for other people are the most important ingredients to a successful and rewarding life. One’s ability and willingness to see the other point of view is crucial to a successful relationship.”