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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/1/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
October 15, 2003 Rose remembered for service to city Former bank president left mark all over By Richard Ryman and Terry Anderson Rose, 87, died Tuesday. Proko-Wall Funeral Home in Green Bay is handling
funeral arrangements. Details were not available late Tuesday.
"It's a sad day in Green Bay," said Robert Gallagher, chairman of Associated
Banc-Corp. Rose was a founder and chairman of Associated Bank.
"He set such an example for all of us with his integrity and the way
he wanted to serve the community."
The list of Rose's accomplishments is long and undoubtedly incomplete.
Friends say Rose was not much for blowing his own horn.
"He sacrificed his ego, his profits, his business. He was above all
things enormously loyal to his town," said John Brogan, a longtime friend
and member of the Green Bay Water Commission.
Rose could be seen daily in downtown Green Bay, where he maintained
an office at Associated Bank.
"He came in every morning," said Mark McMullen, chief executive officer
of Associated Wealth Management, an Associated Banc-Corp. subsidiary.
"He always did the crossword puzzle of the New York Times. He'd check
the mail, balance his checkbook, then go to the YMCA."
His works abound
As he traveled through town, Rose had only to look around to see his
impact. Whether crossing the Don A. Tilleman Bridge on Mason Street, which
he championed, or passing Schreiber Foods and ShopKo Stores Inc. or any
number of Green Bay's schools, the evidence was all around him.
"He had as much to do with the building of Green Bay as anyone I can
think of," said Paul Jadin, president of the Green Bay Area Chamber of
Commerce and former mayor.
Rose was instrumental in having a University of Wisconsin campus built
in Green Bay instead of Appleton.
"He was my closest community friend for 37 years, and it will be very
hard to say goodbye," said Ed Weidner, former chancellor of UW-Green Bay.
"We were part of a Thursday noon luncheon club, and we sort of had a contest
who could come up with the best jokes. Jake was a very informal, humorous
person.
"Jake was responsible for the university coming to Green Bay and he
was influential in the site selection. He was the warmest supporter of
the university in many, many different ways."
Not only a dedicated fund-raiser, Rose also established generous scholarship
funds for students and enjoyed the time that he spent with them at scholarship
luncheons.
A man of conviction
Weidner said Rose loved duck hunting at Point Au Sable along the east
shore of the bay. Eventually Rose bought out other property owners and
through the Nature Conservancy donated the property to the university
so it could be developed into an outdoor laboratory for the Center for
Biodiversity.
"He was more than just an economic developer, he wanted a well-rounded
city. He wanted not only the economy strong, but he wanted planning, he
wanted the university, he wanted the development of culture and the arts,"
Weidner said.
Brogan recalled that when Green Bay's downtown began to deteriorate
in the late 1950s, Rose personally arranged to pay for the first urban
preservation study.
Rose was no stranger to the political arena, and could take sides without
losing the respect of those with whom he differed.
"Jake Rose was a man of conviction. There were times that we were adversaries,
but most recently we were in agreement in our opposition to the Packers
tax," Alderman Guy Zima said.
He also was not above taking unpopular stands, such as his opposition
to the sales tax for the redevelopment of Lambeau Field, which had the
support of most businessmen and his friends.
"When he had a personal opinion, it wouldn't matter what side he was
on, he would express his opinion," Gallagher said. "I came from Chicago,
which was a very political town. When I came to Green Bay, it didn't matter
if you were Republican or Democrat, it was a pretty democratic society.
I think Jake encouraged that."
Brogan said Rose was a major financial figure for the Republican Party,
but at the same time was a friend of Democratic Sens. Gaylord Nelson and
William Proxmire.
Rose was also a successful businessman, succeeding his father as head
of Kellogg-Citizens National Bank, which he helped convert into Associated
Bank.
McMullen and Gallagher, who both joined the bank 23 years ago this month,
remember their interviews.
"He scared me to death. He was an imposing man, and forceful," McMullen
said. "Over the years, I learned he was about as soft as they came. One
thing that differentiated him was his ability to judge character in people."
Gallagher said Rose's priorities were immediately evident.
"He said, 'I know you'll be a good banker or I wouldn't be talking to
you. But are you going to be supportive of the community?'" Gallagher
said. "He set such an example for all of us with his integrity and the
way he wanted to serve the community."
A long list of businesses
McMullen ticked off successful businesses to which Rose lent money based
on his judgment of the character of their owners, including ShopKo Stores,
Packerland Packing, Schreiber Foods, Imperial Inc., Shade Information
Systems and Green Bay Packaging.
"He was one of the most liberal bankers I have ever known," McMullen
said.
Bob Bush, retired chairman and CEO of Schreiber Foods, said, "Without
Jake, Schreiber Foods would not exist."
Rose was well known for conducting fast, efficient meetings. He would
sometimes frustrate other Redevelopment Authority members with the speed
with which he mowed through an agenda.
"He had a talent for running fast meetings," McMullen said. "And if
a meeting was supposed to start at 7:30, you had to be there at 7:25 because
it started early."
Harry Maier, a former business editor of the Green Bay Press-Gazette
and Rose's successor as chairman of the Redevelopment Authority, said
Rose and John Cofrin, former chairman of Fort Howard Corp., had a standing
bet on who could run the shortest annual meeting.
Serving others Highlights of Jake Rose's community involvement: • Chairman and president of Kellogg-Citizens National Bank, later Associated Bank, which he also led. • Head of the Green Bay School Board and of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District Commission. • Member of the Green Bay Water Commission and the Brown County Regional Planning Commission. • Member of the Redevelopment Authority for 35 years and its chairman for two decades. • Member of the Salvation Army board of directors and treasurer of the United Fund (now United Way). • Co-chairman of the fund drive to build the Neville Public Museum.
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