Florida Senate - 2025                            (NP)    SR 1872
       
       
        
       By Senator Brodeur
       
       
       
       
       
       10-02755-25                                           20251872__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing the contributions made by
    3         Harris Rosen to the Central Florida community.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, Harris Rosen was President and Chief Operating
    6  Officer of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, a hospitality company he
    7  founded in 1974 which now includes three convention hotels and
    8  four leisure hotels, with more than 6,300 guest rooms and suites
    9  and 730,000 square feet of meeting space, and
   10         WHEREAS, Harris Rosen grew up in a modest apartment in New
   11  York’s Lower East Side with his parents, Jack and Lee, and his
   12  younger brother, Ron, and attended the High School of Music &
   13  Art in the Bronx and, later, Cornell University, where he
   14  obtained a degree in hospitality management, and
   15         WHEREAS, in the early 1960s, Harris Rosen joined the United
   16  States Army and served for more than 3 years before beginning
   17  his career in hospitality as a convention salesman for the
   18  Waldorf Astoria in New York City, and
   19         WHEREAS, Harris Rosen rose to management level, working for
   20  the Hilton Hotels Corporation in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cape
   21  Kennedy, and Dallas, and
   22         WHEREAS, when hired by the Walt Disney Company to help with
   23  its major development in Florida, Harris Rosen created a central
   24  reservation system for Disney’s hotels, and
   25         WHEREAS, in 1974, Harris Rosen used his savings to purchase
   26  a 256-room Quality Inn hotel in Orlando, and, after converting
   27  two rooms into an office and a small apartment, he lived on the
   28  premises and took charge of every aspect of the facility, from
   29  cleaning and gardening to working the front desk, and
   30         WHEREAS, Harris Rosen went on to acquire six additional
   31  hotels, the Rosen Inn near Universal Studios Florida, the Rosen
   32  Inn at Pointe Orlando, the Rosen Inn Lake Buena Vista, the Rosen
   33  Plaza, the Rosen Centre, and the Rosen Shingle Creek, and
   34         WHEREAS, not only was Harris Rosen a successful hotelier,
   35  he was also a philanthropist and humanitarian who donated
   36  millions of dollars to multiple foundations and programs,
   37  including the education initiatives in Tangelo Park and
   38  Parramore, which provide free preschool programs and
   39  scholarships for colleges and vocational schools for children in
   40  those underserved communities; the University of Central Florida
   41  Rosen College of Hospitality Management, which trains students
   42  in hospitality and is ranked among the top hospitality schools
   43  in the world; the Jack and Lee Rosen Jewish Community Center in
   44  Southwest Orlando, which serves more than 200 children, from
   45  infancy to prekindergarten; the University of Florida Adam
   46  Michael Rosen Neuro-Oncology Laboratories, which houses multiple
   47  laboratories conducting research on brain tumor treatments; and
   48  the Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center, which hosts swimming classes
   49  to prevent childhood drownings and is home to past and present
   50  Olympians, and
   51         WHEREAS, Harris Rosen also took care of his employees and
   52  their families by creating RosenCare, an award-winning insurance
   53  plan that not only provides its members with comprehensive
   54  coverage, but also pays for 90 percent of all of their
   55  medications; and by establishing the Rosen Medical Center to
   56  offer his employees and their loved ones top-notch medical care
   57  and wellness programs, and
   58         WHEREAS, for his phenomenal charitable works and
   59  contributions to improve the lives of residents in the Central
   60  Florida community, Harris Rosen received numerous awards,
   61  including the 2022 LeRoy Collins Lifetime Achievement Award from
   62  Leadership Florida, the 2022 United Negro College Fund Orlando
   63  Chapter Community Champion of Education Award, and the 2023 H.
   64  Clifford Lee Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of
   65  Fundraising Professionals, and
   66         WHEREAS, Harris Rosen passed away at age 85 on November 25,
   67  2024, surrounded by his family and loved ones, NOW, THEREFORE,
   68  
   69  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   70  
   71         That the Senate recognizes the remarkable contributions
   72  made by hotelier and philanthropist Harris Rosen to the Central
   73  Florida community.
   74         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
   75  presented to the family of Harris Rosen as a tangible token of
   76  the sentiments expressed herein.