Style Magazines Sits Down With Harris Rosen

By Riesa Pascal

Rosen Inn International Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando Rosen Inn

Rosen Inn Lake Buena Vista Rosen Plaza Rosen Centre

Rosen Shingle Creek

These are a few properties that may come to mind when one hears “Rosen,” but it doesn’t even begin to cover half of everything associated with the mighty Rosen name. As a Florida resident who has lived in Orlando for over 30 years, I’ve been a first-hand witness of the impact of Rosen Hotels & Resorts on this community. The extraordinary brand is woven into the very fabric of this city and has been an important part of our history and landscape for longer than I’ve called Central Florida home. So what about the man behind the Rosen brand?

Entrepreneur. Businessman. Investor. Advocate. Philanthropist. Son. Husband. Father. Friend.

Harris Rosen is a lot of things, but one thing he is not is forgettable and I will forever be grateful for the cherished opportunity I had to sit down with the largest independent hotelier in Florida to get a peek behind the curtains of the distinguished Rosen name. How poetic and fitting that this took place at the very hotel that marked the beginning of Rosen history: The Rosen Inn International. This was a hotel that Mr. Rosen took a leap of faith in buying back in 1974 when International Drive was still in the middle of swamp land and forest. A hotel that saw the birth of Mr. Rosen's wildly successful business venture into hotel ownership. A hotel with a remarkably quaint, but charming office that Mr. Rosen has solely worked out of for nearly 50 years.

As I stepped into this very office, it truly felt like I was walking into a life-sized scrapbook. From framed newspaper clippings and article profiles to celebrity autographs and family photos—every inch of the walls and countertop space was covered in vibrant artifacts from Mr. Rosen’s long and storied life. Mindful of how limited the time must be for someone of Mr. Rosen’s caliber, I was shocked and profoundly touched as he rose from his desk and insisted on showing me around his office before we started chatting. Like an old friend giving you a tour of their home for the first time, Mr. Rosen was warm and chatty as he walked around the surprisingly small office space. With great detail he recalled the fascinating facts and heart-warming stories behind the collection of treasured memories surrounding us on every side.

“I’m happy here. I don’t need anything fancy. I have seven hotels and some of them are really beautiful. Rosen Centre is beautiful. Rosen Shingle Creek is beautiful. Rosen Plaza is beautiful. The motels are beautiful, but this is where I stay. We have a beautiful operations building, but this is where I stay. I don’t need anything fancyschmancy. So many wonderful memories are here.” - H.R.

If I had a single reason to question any of the wonderful things I’d ever heard about Mr. Rosen prior to our meeting, I would’ve had to reevaluate my position even before my interview had started. With kind, attentive eyes, and a soft-spoken voice, Mr. Rosen radiated an exuberant amount of positivity and genuine love that somehow filled the room even more than the dozens of beautiful photos and relics physically could. When it was finally time for our conversation to start, I quickly realized that there was no need for the list of questions I had prepared. I set my list aside and sat back in awe as Mr. Rosen immediately launched into an inspiring story of his life and career. With incredible detail he took me all the way back to his humble beginnings growing up in New York.

As the son of a safety engineer and poster artist at the Waldorf Astoria, Mr. Rosen was exposed to the hospitality industry at the young age of 10 while assisting his father on weekends. Having inherited much of his father’s artistic talent, Mr. Rosen initially aspired to be a commercial artist and decided to apply to several fine arts colleges (Pratt, Cooper Union and Carnegie Tech) to which he was immediately accepted. However, a deeper calling in his heart also encouraged him to apply to Cornell’s famous School of Hotel Management. After anxiously waiting for a month or so, Mr. Rosen was accepted and spent four years studying the ins and outs of the hotel industry.

“I decided not to go to art school because I didn’t know if I had enough talent to be a successful artist and if you don’t have the talent, you can’t learn talent. You either have it or you don’t. And so dad said, ‘Okay Harris, so what do you want to do then?’ I said, ‘Well I love the hotel business. You’ve been letting me work with you for years and years.’ He said, ‘So maybe hotel management?’ I said, ‘That would be wonderful, dad.” -H.R.

However the journey to break out in the hotel industry was not an easy one. With a war going on in Vietnam and having gone through ROTC, Mr. Rosen was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army upon graduation and still proudly displays many of his achievements from those years in the very office we were sitting in. After spending three years and several months overseas in Korea and Germany, Mr. Rosen said goodbye to the Army and officially launched his hotel career at the Waldorf Astoria as a file clerk in the personnel (now Human Resources) department. One thing led to another and over the next several years, Mr. Rosen began to ascend the ladder of hospitality working everywhere from New York and Pittsburgh to Dallas and Mexico.

Eventually that search for his forever home and career led him to Orlando, Florida and on June 24, 1974—at a time when the Central Florida hotel industry was in economic shambles—Mr. Rosen became the proud owner of the 256-room Quality Inn fronting both Interstate 4 and International Drive. Today you know this hotel as the 728-room Rosen Inn International, the very same hotel where I was sat enthralled by the story unfolding from Mr. Rosen’s mouth. Eventually one hotel became two, then three, then four… by 2006, Rosen Shingle Creek opened as one of the largest full-service convention hotels in Central Florida and brought Mr. Rosen’s portfolio to an astonishing seven hotels. Today he remains the largest independent hotelier in the state of Florida with approximately six percent of the Central Florida hotel inventory.

With so many award-winning properties under the Rosen Hotels & Resorts umbrella, it goes without saying that Mr. Rosen has made hundreds of millions throughout his career. A financial blessing that he says with unwavering conviction was received from God alone. From the very moment that Mr. Rosen understood this to be true, he decided that offering a helping hand to those in need was going to be his way of saying thank you. Thus the Harris Rosen Foundation was born, an organization that provides funds for a multitude of philanthropic initiatives and the first of many foundations that Mr. Rosen would go on to establish.

“People wonder why am I involved in so many philanthropic endeavors. It’s because I’m so grateful for what God has done for me. We have donated over the past 30-49 years, over 100 million dollars. People want to know why I have been so generous, it’s because God has been so generous to me and we’re just giving back a little bit.” -H.R.

From local philanthropy like providing over 100 scholarships annually to his top-rated Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida to international acts of kindness like providing his Haitian brothers and sisters with food, educational materials, healthcare supplies and water filtration systems… Mr. Rosen’s generosity knows no bounds and continues to this day with countless programs that are making a difference in the lives of thousands. One of his most inspiring initiatives is without a doubt the multi-million dollar Tangelo Park Program which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

Tangelo Park is an underserved, highcrime neighborhood in Central Florida where Mr. Rosen’s charity has provided a free preschool education for every two, three and four year old in the neighborhood, a full college or vocational school scholarship for every graduating high school senior from the Tangelo Park area, and even a Family Resource Center for parents. The program has been a tremendous success with a significant drop in the crime rate and high school graduation rates that have improved to virtually 100 percent. In April 2016, a second similar initiative to benefit the Parramore neighborhood in downtown Orlando was also announced and Mr. Rosen is optimistic that it will experience a similar level of success.

As the Rosen brand prepares for its 50th anniversary in 2024, I couldn’t help but to close out our incredible afternoon of inspiring conversation with one burning question I had for the legend seated in front of me. Still in amazement over Mr. Rosen’s remarkable story, I couldn’t hold back my fascination and curiosity as I asked him what he was most proud of when he looked back on his unbelievable accomplishments and enduring legacy.

“The thing that I’m most proud of is the fact that I’m living in America. From where I started to where I am today, where else could that happen? All the money that I’ve donated to charity is an indication of how much I love this country. My daughter and I are writing a book about my life and we’re calling it ‘Only in America.’ I think it’s a wonderful example of what’s possible in America if you work hard and make some sacrifices. This is really an only-inAmerica kind of story. -H.R.

In prefacing this introduction, we’d like to offer an observation, which should be of interest to all. Regardless of medical school class rankings, graduates are all referred to as “DOCTOR.”

With this revelation, we should all know that when choosing a physician, one must accept responsibility for adequately researching the doctor he or she is considering.

Within our present day society, most licensed to practice medicine are truly miracle workers whether they are completely restructuring someone’s face or saving a life.

As much as we realize that every physician is an asset to our community, we also know that some have established themselves at the top of their profession and are considered special; these are the ‘elite,’ the very best of the best.

When seeking perfection, we search for the professional who has made it his or her life goal to excel within a field of specialization through many years of study, dedication and determination, continually challenging themselves to advance their knowledge; these brilliant human beings not only save lives but also enrich their communities with a skill set second to none. Beyond this and in order to stay abreast of the latest, almost daily changing medical advancements, the ‘elite’ undergo rigorous maintenance, updating through seminars, conferences and advanced studies to keep current with new technology and procedures.

In adding our ‘Orlando’s Elite Doctors’ section with this issue, we present a group of physicians, all of whom are reputable, Board Certified in their areas of expertise, extremely well recognized within our community and chosen by their peers. Our objective is to initiate a continuing dialogue with our readers, with an aim toward personalizing some of the finest doctors available.