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September 28, 2001
ROSEN-Mark Harlan, 45, of West Islip, NY suddenly on September 11, 2001 at Two World Trade Center. Mark was a partner in the Fixed Income Division of Sandler, O'Neill, Partners. Loving husband of Patricia (nee Haber). Cherished and adored father of Bryan, Amanda and Matthew. Former husband of Mary Ellen Rosen (nee Textor). Loving son of Elaine Rosen and the late Robert and son-in-law of Edward and Charlotte Haber. Dear brother of Sheldon Legon and Lori and John Conte. Uncle of Joseph and Jonathan. A Memorial Service will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church, 455 Hunter Ave., West Islip, NY on Saturday, September 29, 2001, 9AM. In lieu of flowers donations to the Cody Center for Autism, Putnam Hall, Suny Stonybrook, Stonybrook, NY 117948790 or National Alliance for Autism Research, 99 Wall St., Research Park, Princeton, NJ 08540 would be greatly appreciated by the family.
By Thomas Maier
STAFF WRITER
October 1, 2001
The friends and family of Mark Rosen remember him for the many times he made their lives better.
Like those Christmases when Rosen, a Jewish kid from Bayside, dressed up as Santa Claus for his wife, Patti Rosen, a Catholic, and their kids. Or the many hours Rosen gave as a volunteer helping autistic children at the Huntington school for the disabled, which his younger son attended.
At a church service in West Islip on Saturday, the 45-year-old investment banker, officially listed as missing in the Sept. 11 disaster at the World Trade Center, was recalled in spirit while authorities still searched through its ruins.
For Patti, who met her husband while working together at a Wall Street firm in the late 1970s, the memories of what happened two weeks ago still have her numb.
"I know 20 people, including my own husband, who are lost in this," she exclaimed, a number she couldn't help but associate with the faces of those missing and presumed dead.
On the 104th floor of Tower Two, Rosen worked as a partner in the fixed-income division of Sandler O'Neill, a firm he joined in 1991, which lost more than 60 employees in the blast.
Rosen started on Wall Street soon after his graduation in 1978 from St. John's University in Queens. He and Patti met at work. She recalls sharing drinks after hours with Rosen as they sat beside the glistening fountain at the trade center. The couple married in 1988, and moved to West Islip the same year he joined Sandler O'Neill.
On the day of the attack, Rosen immediately called home to tell Patti about the first crash into the adjacent tower, and assured her not to worry.
Patti quickly called him back. "Did you call your mother?" she recalls asking him, knowing that Rosen's mother in Florida would probably be watching television in the morning and become worried. Mark said he had already called.
Patti recalls her husband then told her that an announcement had been made in the second tower, assuring them of their safety and that, "We should stay put."
That was the last time she heard from Rosen.
In addition to his wife, Rosen is survived by a daughter, Amanda, 13; two sons, Bryan, 16, and Matthew, 11; his mother, Elaine; a sister, Lori Conte, of Bayside; and his brother, Sheldon Legon, of Forest Hills. A memorial service for Rosen was held Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in West Islip.
Copyright © 2001, Newsday, Inc.
by Carolyn James
There’s a strength in Patricia Rosen’s voice when she talks about her husband Mark Harlan Rosen. It’s a strength that defies the tragic loss of Mark in the World Trade Center Disaster September 11, but one that comes, she says from having lived a "magic" life and of having no regrets.
"We loved and appreciated each other and we let each other know that every day," said Patricia. "We had a magic and I always knew it and though we will miss him very much, I am content with what we had together. Some people live much longer lives and don’t have what we shared."
Mark Rosen was a partner in the Fixed Income Division of Sandler O’Neill. He perished along with 63 colleagues but managed to call his wife, his mother and his ex-wife before the second plane hit, and the buildings collapsed. In typical fashion for the West Islip resident, his thoughts, even as danger loomed, was to worry about others.
"He was worried that his children would hear something in school and wanted us to know that he was fine," said Patricia.
After Mark hung up, Patricia thought about her mother and mother-in-law in Florida and worried that they would hear the news and become distraught. Moments after the first call from Mark, she called him back. He answered on the first ring and said he had thought of their parents, too, and had already made the call to Florida to assure them he was fine.
That was the last conversation Patricia Rosen had with her husband of 14 years, but the memories of their life together has provided her with a storehouse of memories that will carry her through, she said.
Mark Rosen has three children, Bryan 16, Matthew 11 and Amanda 13.
When his oldest son decided he didn’t want to attend first grade, Rosen often took the train into Queens in the morning to pick his son up from his ex-wife’s house, give him some moral support and bring him to school. When that was rewarded years later with Bryan being accepted into Archbishop Molloy High School, Mark Rosen beamed with pride.
When his daughter Amanda was in competition as a PAL Sparkler, Mark Rosen traveled to gymnasiums around the country to watch her three-minute performance of baton twirling, or as Mark called it, "stick throwing."
When his son Matthew wanted to take friends to an Islander game or WWF tournament, it was his father who came up with the tickets and drove the group, making the obligatory stop at the snack bars and souvenir stands.
"Mark was uniquely special to us because of his ability to revel in the individuality of every person," said Patti. "And this was never more evident than in his special relationship with each of his children."
Mark Rosen was Jewish and Patti Rosen is Catholic, but that didn’t stop him from dressing up as Santa Claus at Christmas time for his wife’s catechism class. And, it didn’t stop him from attending church with his family, which was of paramount importance to him, said Patti. So, when it came time to memorialize her husband, Patti wanted it to be in Our Lady of Lourdes R.C. Church in West Islip.
"I wanted the day to be a celebration of his life," said Patti Rosen. "I wanted to get together with the people and family he loved and to remember the wonderful times we had together."
He reached out to family and friends in many ways. Many related how he had touched their lives at the memorial September 29 with advice and friendship.
Patti Rosen eulogized her husband, saying he was not unlike so many who died that day—devoted family men and women, faithful to friends and full of hopes and dreams.
"He was a man who never allowed the trivia of everyday life to interfere with his family and we are all blessed to have been a part of his life," she said. "I know he will always be with us."
Picture and article from The Babylon Beacon
December 22, 2001
As a partner at Sandler O'Neill, Mark H. Rosen knew investment banking. As a father, he knew baton twirling.
His daughter, Amanda, now 13, got the twirling bug early, becoming a member of the PAL Sparklers, a club in Brentwood, N.Y., near the family's home in West Islip. For a couple of years, no family vacation was complete without at least a few days spent in some out-of-the-way place at a competition. "He was quite happy to sit in hot gymnasiums in places like Grand Rapids or Dubuque and watch his daughter twirl," his wife, Patti, recalled.
Twirling also aided Mr. Rosen, 45, in fulfilling another familial obligation, playing Santa Claus at annual holiday school breakfasts. Mrs. Rosen is Catholic, and the children — Amanda, Matthew, 12, and Bryan, 16 — were raised in the church. Mr. Rosen was Jewish, but that did not matter. "We talked him into it," Mrs. Rosen said.
He borrowed the red suit from the Sparklers, who also recruited him to play Santa in some local twirling shows. He would be surrounded by jumping girls, with batons constantly whizzing past his nose, but he never flinched, having removed his glasses for that authentic Claus look. "He couldn't see a thing without them," Mrs. Rosen said.
New York Times
View/sign Mark Rosen's Guest Book provided by the New York Times.
