Herbert C. Rosen

Herbert (“Herb”) Charles Rosen was born July 20, 1940, son of Allan and Annette (Winneg) Rosen, and grew up in Brockton, MA. He had an older sister Adele with whom he remained close her entire life. The family lived among a large group of close relatives, and Herb worked as a teenager at the family factory that made electrical cords. He attended Boston University, where he met his future wife Lois (Katz), also from Brockton. They married in 1962, shortly after Lois graduated, and for their honeymoon drove across the country, sleeping in a tent and visiting national parks.

After finishing Tufts Dental School, Herb served for two years as a dentist in the Army at the rank of Captain at Fort Hood, TX, where his first son Eric was born. The family moved back to Massachusetts and, in 1969, after daughter Alisa was born, relocated to Sudbury, MA, where Herb lived with Lois for the rest of his life. The family’s third child Alan was born while Herb was in graduate school for endodontics and working full time as a dentist. Soon after, he opened his dental practice in Worcester, MA, where he stayed until he retired to spend more time with his four granddaughters.

Herb loved the outdoors, especially hiking and backpacking. When his children were young, he took them camping in Maine each summer and hiking in the White Mountains. He had a group of hiking buddies with whom he would regularly go backpacking in New Hampshire and another group of friends with whom he went on longer hiking adventures at wilderness areas and national parks around the United States. He also loved to travel around the world with Lois, visiting Israel, Jordan, China, and many countries in Western Europe, especially Italy, where they returned many times.

As much as he loved the mountains, Herb loved the ocean where he could often be found swimming even when the water was too cold for everyone else. In his later years and especially after he retired, he spent as much time as he could at his vacation home on Cape Cod with Lois, where they were often joined by children and grandchildren.

Herb was an active member of Temple Beth El in Sudbury, where he took many adult education classes with the temple’s first rabbi, Larry Kushner, who made a deep impression on him, and with Cantor Lorel Zar-Kessler. He was also active in the chevra chadisha (Jewish burial society) and led many workshops on ethical living wills. For many years on the High Holidays he would lead services at local retirement homes for residents who otherwise would not have been able to participate.

Herb greatly valued his family and extended family and, as the years passed, increasingly took on the role of family patriarch. For many years, he and Lois hosted all kinds of family gatherings, at Thanksgiving, Passover, and other Jewish Holidays, when Herb would serve his famous baba ganouj dip and, with his granddaughters, make home made ice cream. Herb and Lois were also well-known for the way that they cared for many of their relatives, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, especially as they got older or became ill. In this way, they made a huge difference in so many lives and set inspiring example of kindness and compassion.

Services at Congregation Beth El, 105 Hudson Road, Sudbury on Wednesday, June 26 at 11:00 AM. Interment at the Agudas Achim Cemetery, 1000 Pearl St, Brockton.

Shiva will be at the family home on Wednesday at 7:00pm, Thursday at 6:30pm, and Sunday at 3:00pm.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Operation Smile, The Parkinson’s Foundation, or a Veterans' organization of your choice.