Morris Rosen Obituary

Morris David Rosen CHARLESTON - Morris David Rosen, 92, husband of Elizabeth Rosen, passed away peacefully at home on October 15, 2012. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, on October 21, 1919, Morris Rosen was the son of the late Sol and Annie Rosen. Mr. Rosen grew up in Charleston, attended Charleston County public schools, graduating from Charleston High School, from the College of Charleston in 1942 and from the University of South Carolina, School of Law in 1947. He was a member of Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. He met Ida Tanenbaum Rosen, his wife of many years and the mother of his three children, while attending school at the College of Charleston. While serving in the Coast Guard during WWII, Mr. Rosen served on a Landing Ship Tank (LST) in the Pacific theater. He saw service beginning in May 1942 at Saipan, Tarawa and The Aleutian Islands Campaign (Kiska) and had achieved the rank of full lieutenant at the time of his discharge in November 1945. Mr. Rosen began his law practice on Broad Street in Charleston in 1947. He was later joined by his sons, Robert and Richard Rosen. He was the senior partner of Rosen, Rosen & Hagood, LLC until 2009 when he retired from the practice of law at age 90. He served with distinction as the Corporation Counsel of the City of Charleston under Mayor Palmer Gaillard from 1959 to 1975. He represented the City in all the civil rights litigation of the era and was credited with being a voice of reason and moderation in those tumultuous times. A "lawyer's lawyer," Mr. Rosen served as President of the Charleston County Bar Association and the South Carolina Bar; was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers; an Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates; a member of the South Carolina Board of Law Examiners from 1960 through 1975; and was the President of the South Carolina Municipal Attorneys Association in 1964. He was awarded the South Carolina Bar's 1994 DuRant Distinguished Public Service Award; the University of South Carolina School of Law 1994 Compleat Lawyer Award; an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the College of Charleston in 1997; the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association's 1999 Founders Award; and the prestigious James Louis Petigru Award in 2011. He was President of the College of Charleston Alumni Association. He was a member of the South Carolina Board of Bar Examiners for many years. He maintained the highest professional rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory for over 35 years and was listed in The Best Lawyers In America and Super Lawyers. He was universally recognized as one of South Carolina's finest lawyers. Morris Rosen was not only a consummate lawyer and community leader, but also a Southern gentleman with a positive attitude and a smile on his face. He loved the other members of the Charleston Bar and was always willing to help any lawyer, young or old, who came to him for advice. Surviving are his wife, Elizabeth "Betty" Rosen, his daughter Debra Rosen, his sons and daughters-in-law, Robert N. and Susan Rosen and Richard S. and Marianne Rosen, all of Charleston, South Carolina; his grandchildren, John Rosen, and his wife, Anne, Will Rosen, and Chandler Bold of Charleston, South Carolina; his granddaughters, Annie Rosen and Alexandra Gourvitch and her husband, Daniel, of New York; his step-daughters, Jennifer Smathers, her husband Chris, and their children, James, Emma and Cate, and Beth Meggs, her husband, Michael, and their children; his brother, Leon Rosen; his sister, Marilyn Schwartz, and her husband, David; his niece, Sandra Oberman; and nephews. He is also survived by Betty's sisters and brothers, his mother-in-law, Mary Register, and loved by them all. Services will be on Wednesday, October 17, 2012, at 2:00 p.m. at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, 90 Hasell Street, Charleston, SC, with a burial service at Beth Elohim Cemetery, Huguenin Avenue. Memorials may be made to the College of Charleston or South Carolina Bar Foundation, P.O. Box 608, Columbia, SC, 29202. Arrangements by J. HENRY STUHR, INC., DOWNTOWN CHAPEL. Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston