Richard Rosen

Richard was born on April 12, 1939, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He spent his early childhood in Brookline before his family moved to Newton, where he graduated from Newton High School in 1956. He served in the United States Army Reserve as a Private First Class for seven years, where he was assigned to a military base beautification effort to plant trees.

From an early age, Richard had an extraordinary curiosity about how things worked and an instinct for building things, whether businesses, technologies, or relationships. As a young man, he worked at Harry Quint Greenhouses, beginning as a laborer and eventually becoming a grower and buyer.

His professional life was difficult to confine to a single field. Richard was an entrepreneur, engineer, scientist and teacher. He earned a Master of Forest Science in Forest Science and Ecology and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Physics from Harvard University.

Early in his career, Richard worked at Abt Associates on public health and environmental issues, contributing to work that helped shape the Clean Water Act. Over the decades that followed, he founded and led businesses in energy, environmental technology, healthcare and agriculture, developed patented technologies, and worked throughout the United States and around the world.

In 2009, Richard founded American Ag Energy, bringing his career full circle. Having begun his working life in greenhouses, he spent his later years developing large-scale greenhouse projects that brought together agriculture, energy and environmental sustainability.

But Richard’s greatest gift may have been his ability to connect with people. He loved conversation, and the telephone was his preferred medium. He called often, sometimes several times a day, to check in, offer advice, share an idea, solve a problem, or simply talk. He was intensely interested in the lives of the people he loved and extraordinarily generous with his time. Many people outside his immediate family came to regard him as a father figure.

Richard was also an extraordinary gardener and cook. He loved growing things as much at home as he did professionally and took enormous pleasure in preparing and sharing food with the people he loved.

Richard was preceded in death by his parents, Samuel and Marion Rosen. He is survived by his wife, Marguerite Piret; his sister, Nancy Howren; his children, Annie Rosen (Julien Etienne) and Andrew Rosen (Annah Kim-Rosen); and his seven grandchildren, Dylan, Marcus and Layla Rosen, and Renée, Noah, Isaac and Gaël Etienne.

Richard will be remembered for his formidable intellect and endless curiosity, but even more for his warmth, generosity and deep engagement in the lives of others. He spent his life building things, but the relationships he built may be his most enduring legacy.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Richard’s memory to Mass Eye and Ear⁠.