William A. Rose, Jr., Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, passed away peacefully on August 27, 2023, at the age of 84. He was born on November 26, 1938, in Flushing, New York and grew up on Long Island. Bill prepared at the McBurney School in Manhattan where he was an accomplished athlete, president of the Student Council, and winner of the school’s most prestigious award, the Robert Ross McBurney medal. Bill graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1960 with a degree in Architectural Sciences. While at Harvard, he was a member of Winthrop House, the varsity swimming team, the golf team, Krokodiloes (Harvard’s premier a cappella group), and the D.U. (now the Fly) and Hasty Pudding clubs. Also, while at Harvard, he met and fell in love with a Wellesley freshman who would be his wife for 62 years, Sandra.
Bill earned an M.Arch at Columbia in 1964 and entered the family architectural and engineering firm. He was an award-winning architect licensed in 17 states and jurisdictions. During his career, he was active with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) serving as a chapter and state (NY) president, and later as a regional director and national Vice President. For his efforts Bill received his chapter’s rarely-awarded gold medal, and NYSAA’s Del Guadio and Kideney service awards. While on the AIA national board he was elevated to fellowship in 1981, serving as chairman of the AIA Research Corporation, and chairman of the interdisciplinary Committee on Federal Procurement of Architectural and Engineering Services. Bill continued his service by becoming a member of the AIA College of Fellows Executive Committee in 1986 and its Chancellor in 1990. At the time of his death he was the senior Chancellor emeritus.
Bill held leadership positions in a large number of civic organizations in White Plains, NY and the surrounding region. These included Council President of the White Plains Common (City) Council, Chairman of the YMCA of Central and Northern Westchester, President of the Harvard Club of Westchester, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Mercy College, which awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. As a White Plains Councilman, he co-authored and successfully introduced the City’s first comprehensive accessibility legislation (cited by the American National Standards Institute as a model for other municipalities to follow), as well as a resolution to direct federal Community Development Act funds to stabilize older neighborhoods surrounding the City’s central business district. Bill was a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International, an honor bestowed on him by the White Plains Rotary Club.
Bill was a lifelong golf enthusiast shooting his age or better beginning at the age of 71 and continuing annually until illness overtook him. He was a member and past President of his home club, Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, NY, a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, a former member of the Sunningdale Golf Club in England, and a member of the John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Florida where he won several men’s and senior club championships. During his golfing life, Bill scored five holes-in-one and one double eagle, and though his handicap never got to scratch, he was a one-handicap player off and on for several years. He was also a Life Member of the New York Athletic Club for whom he played water polo in the 1957 national AAU championships.
Bill was very proud of his Norman/Scottish heritage and could trace his ancestry back to the twelfth century including Robert, a collateral surety baron of the Magna Carta. He was a Life Member of the Clan Rose Society of America, and a former Board Member of the St. Andrews Society of New York. He could be seen at many venues appropriately dressed in a Clan Rose tartan kilt or trews.
Music also played an important part in Bill’s life. In addition to lending his tenor voice to his church choir, he sang with the John’s Island singers, the Atlantic Schola Cantorum, and the Vero Beach Choral Society. The latter group performed the New York debut of Stephen Edwards’ Ave Maria Mass at Carnegie Hall dedicated to the victims of 9/11.
Bill learned to play bridge initially by kibitzing games on the train to New York. Though the game he watched, nicknamed “goulash” for its shortcuts, wasn’t in strict accordance with the rules of the game, the basics of bidding, play and scoring were observed. In later years he occasionally played duplicate bridge with his father, who was an excellent player, successfully representing the NY Athletic Club in the New York Interclub Contract League, reputedly the oldest surviving bridge league in the world. After his father died, he continued playing for the NYAC with a fellow member who taught him the modern game. After retirement, he finally joined the American Contract Bridge League and eventually accumulated enough master points to become a Ruby Life Master. With another of his bridge partners, he co- founded the Treasure Coast Interclub Bridge League in Florida as its first Chairman and Captain of the John’s Island Team of Four.
Bill is pre-deceased by his parents, William and Josephine. He is survived by his wife, Sandra, their two wonderful daughters, Lindsay Rose, Lesley Rose May (Stuart), and his grandson Dylan Musgrave (Anakarina). In addition to his immediate family, Bill is survived by his younger brothers Donald (Carol), Alan (Janet), his sister Nancy and a large number of nieces and nephews.
