John Rosch

1939 - 2016

John Thomas Rosch, a former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission and Director of its Bureau of Consumer Protection, died on March 30, 2016, in Lake Forest, Illinois. While at the Commission, he helped to revitalize its litigation efforts, particularly in relation to merger enforcement. Throughout his career, he was one of the preeminent practitioners in the areas of antitrust and trade regulation law and was lead counsel in more than 100 federal and state court antitrust cases. He won summary judgements for major corporations in the automobile, transportation, pharmaceutical, publishing and consumer electronics industries, among others. Tom was born on October 4, 1939 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the son of Herman P. and Phoebe J. Rosch. In 1956, Tom graduated from Benson High School of Omaha, Nebraska in 1961 and received his A.B. in Government, magna cum laude, from Harvard College of Cambridge, Massachusetts. On August 18, 1961,Tom married Carolyn Jane Lee in Broken Bow, Nebraska. He was awarded a Knox Fellowship and studied at Jesus College of Cambridge University in Cambridge, England in 1961-62. In 1965, Tom graduated from Harvard Law School of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He began his legal career at McCutcheon, Doyle, Brown & Emerson in San Francisco, California and was elected Partner in 1972. Tom left McCutcheon in 1973 to become the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC. He returned to McCutcheon in 1975. In 1989, Tom was appointed to the Special Committee to Study the Role of the Federal Trade Commission. Tom was the Chairman of the Anti-Trust Section of the American Bar Association in 1990 and had previously been Chairman of the Antitrust Section of the California State Bar Association. In 1994, Tom become Managing Partner of the San Francisco office of Latham & Watkins. He was honored as Antitrust Lawyer of the Year by the California State Bar Antitrust Section in 2003. In 2005, Tom helped lead the team that won Federal Trade Commission approval for Oracle's acquisition of Peoplesoft, which most pundits thought highly unlikely to be approved at the time. From 2003 to 2006, he served on the Board of Directors of the Eisenhower Institute. In 2006, Tom was appointed a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission by President George W. Bush. During his tenure, he represented the Commissionnumerous times in testimony before the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. In 2012, he gave the Lewis Bernstein Memorial Lecture at St. John's University School of Law. Tom retired from the Federal Trade Commission in 2013. Tom lectured at Stanford University, Cornell University, Georgetown University Law Center, the University of California Boalt School of Law, McGill University, the University of Virginia, the USC Gould School of Law, St. Gallen University, the University of Hong Kong, Fordham University, Loyola College, George Mason University and the Aspen Institute. He wrote on antitrust issues for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Advertising Age, among others. He was a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers for more than 20 years and was on the Advisory Board of the American Antitrust Institute at his death. Tom was a member of the Pacific-Union Club of San Francisco, the Bohemian Club of San Francisco and The Metropolitan Club of Washington, DC. He was the author of the Bohemian Club's 1990 Grove Play, Prophecy. Tom is survived by his children, Thomas Lee Rosch and Laura Rosch Gillette; his four granddaughters, Amelia Jamison Rosch, Catherine Michel Rosch, Carolyn Thornton Gillette and Julia Scranton Gillette. He is also survived by his sisters, Jane Jenkins and Ann Duffield. Memorials may be made to Saint Clement's Church of Berkeley , California (www.stclementsberkeley.org) , the Church of the Holy Spirit of Lake Forest, Illinois (www.chslf.org) or Christ Church of Alexandria, Virginia (www.historicchristchurch.org).