HAROLD J. ROSEN

ROSEN--Harold J., a New York City-born specification writer, died on Tuesday, July 19 at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In 2000, he became a Fellow of the Construction Specifications Institute and was awarded a gold medal. Mr. Rosen was the author of The Principles of Specification Writing (1967), which was renamed Construction Specification Writing: Principles & Procedures and is currently in its sixth revised edition. His second book, Architectural Materials for Construction (1995), remains in print. He was also a regular contributor to Progressive Architecture magazine, writing the “Specifications Clinic� column that ran from 1956-1975. Mr. Rosen, who received a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the City College of New York in 1938, began his career as Civil Specifications Engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1941-46. From 1964-73, Mr. Rosen was the Chief of Specifications for the New York office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and worked on the Hirschhorn Museum and the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. In 1973, he went into private practice and worked on the Jacob K. Javits Center. He taught at the Pratt Institute, the University of Wisconsin, and Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was also a member of the Committee of Examination for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Mr. Rosen was born on February 2, 1915. In 1929, the family moved to Mountaindale, NY. There, they ran a grocery store, above which was a hotel that they operated during tourist season. Though he only lived there a few years, he always had fond memories of Mountaindale. His sister Zelda was born there in 1931. Mr. Rosen wed Rose Lillian Barenberg in 1939. Rose died in 1992. Mr. Rosen is survived by his sister Zelda Tenenbaum; three sons: Dr. Jeffrey Rosen, a professor of psychology at the City College of New York; Mark Rosen, a labor arbitrator in Washington, D.C.; Peter Rosen, Director of Real Estate at George Mason University, Virginia; and five grandchildren.