Harris Rosen, Founder of Rosen Hotels & Resorts

Harris Rosen was President and COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, a hospitality company he founded in 1974. His “little company” features an award-winning collection of seven Orlando-area hotels (three convention and four leisure) comprising 6,338 guest rooms and suites and 740,000 square feet of meeting and event space. With an unyielding, people-first focus, Rosen was a visionary leader in the hospitality, philanthropy and healthcare industries.

Rosen grew up in New York’s Lower East Side with his parents Jack and Lee and his younger brother Ron. His family’s modest apartment still stands at 18 Monroe Street between the East River, Little Italy, the Bowery and Chinatown. After attending Music & Art High School in the Bronx, Harris Rosen applied to mostly fine arts colleges and to Cornell University. He marveled at the fact that he was accepted to Cornell and graduated four years later with a degree in hospitality management.

After Cornell, in the early 1960s, Rosen served as an officer in the Army for more than three years. While stationed in Germany and South Korea, he ascended to the rank of 1st Lieutenant before returning to the U.S. and igniting a career in hospitality.

Rosen began his career as a convention salesman at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. He continued his rise with the Hilton Hotels Corporation holding various management roles in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cape Kennedy (FL) and Dallas. Rosen eventually took his American dream to California. One day he read in the local newspaper about Walt Disney Company’s plans for a major development in Florida, so he applied for a job with them.

Hired by Disney, Rosen moved to Orlando and worked on hotel designs. He even created its central reservation system. His Disney career was flourishing, but years later, Rosen realized if he was truly going to be happy and fulfilled, he had to consider being in business for himself.

The early 1970s was a tough time in the United States with a stock market in decline and an Arab oil embargo making gasoline scarce and costly. Hotels in Orlando struggled mightily. That opened the door for Rosen in 1974 as he took all his savings − $20,000 dollars − and agreed to purchase a small, 256-room Quality Inn snug up against I-4 at the intersection of Sand Lake Road and International Drive. There was no going back.

He did everything from cooking and cleaning to gardening and front desk. Rosen lived on property and even converted two rooms into an office and a tiny apartment with a small stove up against a wall.

Rosen remained in that same office, in what is now the Rosen Inn International, his entire career. His success allowed him to purchase a second hotel, which is now the Rosen Inn closest to Universal, and the Rosen Inn Lake Buena Vista, Rosen Plaza, and Rosen Centre. His hotel collection grew with the construction of Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando and the crown jewel, Rosen Shingle Creek.

His prosperity in the hospitality field is legendary, only matched by his success as a philanthropist and humanitarian. Now, the Rosen name stands tall on seven Orlando-area hotels, the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, The Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center and multiple foundations benefitting children in underserved communities, warriors fighting cancer and people in other countries hit hard by disasters.

Desiring to give back and make a difference in Central Florida, Rosen created preschool programs in Tangelo Park (1994) and Parramore (2017) which provide free preschool to children ages 2, 3 and 4 in those underserved communities. These initiatives have been lauded for their excellence in preparing students and providing a stable learning environment from which to start their educational journey. When those students graduate high school, Rosen’s foundations provide college or vocational school scholarships covering tuition, books, room & board and other expenses.

In 2004, the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management opened its doors after Rosen donated more than $18 million dollars, his time and resources, while working alongside then-Dean Abe Pizam. His lifetime contributions totaled more than $30 million dollars to the school, which includes a $2.5 million dollar scholarship endowment for UCF that is matched by the state of Florida. The college now ranks as the nation’s top hospitality school and one of the best in the world.

He also donated millions of dollars to develop what is now the Jack and Lee Rosen Jewish Community Center in Southwest Orlando, which serves more than 200 children from infancy to Pre-K. In 2016, Rosen donated an additional $3.7 million to build an event center to accommodate the Rosen JCC’s tremendous growth and popularity.

In 2019, Mr. Rosen donated $12 million to cancer research as a legacy to his son, Adam Michael Rosen, who died in 2018 from brain cancer at the age of 26. The Adam Michael Rosen Neuro-Oncology Laboratories houses multiple laboratories led by researchers at the University of Florida. Their work includes innovative brain tumor immunotherapy research, genetics, artificial intelligence, neuroimaging and care for the development of novel brain tumor treatments.

Mr. Rosen’s passions for swimming led him to save what is now the Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center not once, but twice from shutting its doors. The second time, during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Harris Rosen Foundation received ownership of the facility and quickly renovated it back to a state-of-the-art swimming and fitness complex. This world-class facility now hosts swimming classes to prevent childhood drownings, is home to past and present Olympians and has been used by multiple organizations, like Special Olympics USA and the US Paralympics Swimming for competitions.

Mr. Rosen also created RosenCare. This innovative, award-winning insurance plan not only gives associates and their families comprehensive coverage, it pays for 90% of all medications, including insulin. In the process, it is estimated to have saved his privately-owned company approximately $500 million and counting since its inception. Along with RosenCare, he established the Rosen Medical Center, which offers associates and their loved ones top-notch medical care and wellness programs, on-campus and while on-the-clock.

In 2023, Mr. Rosen received an esteemed lifetime achievement award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals. He also received Leadership Florida’s LeRoy Collins Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 for going above and beyond to improve the lives of all Floridians, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Orlando Chapter Champion of Education award and the Healthcare Revolutionary award presented by the Healthcare Revolution Conference among others.

Harris Rosen passed away at his home on November 25, 2024, surrounded by family and loved ones. He was 85 years old.