 HONORARY CONSUL GENERAL OF JAPAN IN ORLANDO
Born and raised on New York City’s lower eastside, Mr. Rosen received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1961 from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. He served for three years in the United States Army as an officer in Germany and South Korea, and then completed the Advanced Management course at the University of Virginia’s Graduate School of Business on a Hilton Corporation Scholarship.
Mr. Rosen began his career at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City as a convention salesman. He continued with the Hilton Hotel Corporation occupying various management positions in some of the larger Hilton hotels. Mr. Rosen then joined the Post Company of Dallas director of hotel operations and while there was involved in the development and management of one of the finest resort properties in Acapulco. He left the Post Company after several years to join the Disney Company in California as Director of Hotel Planning, intimately involved in the design and development of the Contemporary Resort Hotel and the Polynesian Village Hotel.
In 1974, Mr. Rosen left Disney to purchase the 256 room Quality Inn on International Drive in Orlando. This purchase represents the foundation of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, Inc., Orlando’s most progressive hospitality company operating seven hotels and owning upwards of 6,300 rooms, more than any other privately-held hotel company in Central Florida.
Mr. Rosen donated 20 acres to the University of Central Florida for the Rosen College of Hospitality Management and provided approximately $10 million in additional funds to construct the college. The college opened in 2004 and currently has an enrollment of nearly 3,000 students in just six years. Mr. Rosen has also served as the Honorary Co-Chair of the successful Bethune-Cookman Statue Project, helping raise funds for the statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of the college. He has contributed an additional $3.5 million to design and build a new Jewish Community Center in southwest Orlando. Mr. Rosen is also a member of the Cornell Society of Hotelmen, and the Waldorf Astoria Distinguished Alumni Association and past President of the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau. He currently serves on the board of directors of the YMCA Aquatic Center and has provided $2.5 million in scholarship endowments to children in the Tangelo Park neighborhood of Orlando and provide free pre-schooling to all two to four year olds in the area. As a result of his charity work, Mr. Rosen as recently listed in Forbes Magazine as the 30th most generous philanthropist in 2008 in America for having given away over $30 million.
Mr. Rosen is married to his wife Trish, and they have four children.
Click here for the announcement of Mr. Harris Rosen becoming the Honorary Consul General of Japan in Orlando and for pictures of his speech during the Orlando Japan Festival.
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