Menko Rose III

Menko Rose, III, of Carmel, Calif., a WW II veteran, loving husband and loving father of four daughters and grandfather of four grandsons, died June 23 at the age of 95. He was the husband of Helen Baird Rose.

Menko was born in New York City to Julia (Friedlander) and Menko Rose, Jr., and grew up with his sister, Doris, in Manhattan and Brooklyn. During WW II, he served in the Army and was wounded twice in Luxembourg in 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. After the war, Menko returned to his studies at Cornell University, receiving a B.A. in Economics. Education was important to him and he eventually also earned an M.S. in Educational Counseling from California State University at Hayward, and worked toward a Ph.D. in Learning at the University of Washington.

He was married to Margie DeWitt in 1954. They moved to Palo Alto in 1960 to raise their four daughters, Dona, Jessica, Sally and Dori.

Over the years, Menko worked in a variety of fields, including as a Wall Street broker and securities analyst, a professional folk singer and marionettist. He owned and ran a wholesale tool business, DeWitt Tool Company, in South San Francisco for 12 years. During that time he decided to go back to school, becoming a licensed marriage, family and child therapist.

Perhaps his greatest work passion was developing the idea of “Skilligence,” a strategy for improving one’s learning ability — it grew out of his research at CSU, Hayward, and University of Washington, and was inspired by his recovery from head injuries suffered during the war. He refined the idea into a manual for workshops, which he offered in Carmel and Monterey, and a book, Intelligence Unchained, which he published in 2019.

He enjoyed athletic endeavors. As a young man, he swam on club teams and was on multiple varsity teams in college including swimming and boxing. He continued exercising throughout his life, especially loving to swim, which he continued into his early 90s.

In 1990, after divorce, he moved to Carmel to be near his sister, Doris, with whom he was very close. He was also close to his half-sister, Helen Rose Platt, of Portland, Ore. While in Carmel, he became an active World Federalist and for several years presented programs on three continents.

He married Helen Baird in 1993. They enjoyed bringing their respective children and grandchildren together for many happy celebrations. They shared a love of dogs, a passion Menko also shared with his daughters and grandsons. He relished telling tales of his beloved German shepherd from his youth, Connie, who purportedly once saved his mother’s life while he was away during WW II.

He very much appreciated spending time with his daughters and grandsons. He wrote in a memoir, “What makes me proudest by far to look back on are my four daughters. They are all happy people doing good, important work contributing to their community; and two each have two healthy, productive, progressing, loving sons.”

A celebration of life will be planned for a later date, when we are able to gather again. If you would like to make a gift in Menko’s honor, consider making a donation to NAACP or ACLU.