George Leo Rosso, a beloved patriarch, devoted family man, devout Christian and lifelong Los Angeles area resident, died May 12, 2025, in Tarzana, Calif., at age 98.
Dr. Rosso embraced life with a big personality and a healthy thirst for adventure, including his decades of travels around most of the globe alongside his wife, Norma, who died July 15, 2011. He was especially fond of traveling to Europe, Australia and Hawaii.
Dr. Rosso was most at home in his native American West, however, where he loved to recreate by hitting its slopes and lakes, when not playing golf. He especially relished taking his wife and four children on many of those snow- and water-skiing trips.
He and Norma were members of Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch. They shared a love of square dancing and banjo concerts.
Dr. Rosso enjoyed a large circle of family and friends throughout his life, including scores of former classmates from his cherished alma mater, the University of Southern California.
For nearly four decades after USC, Dr. Rosso was a dentist on Ventura Boulevard in Encino, Calif., where his many patients included generations of families, as well as occasional celebrities, including Debbie Reynolds, John Wooden and Johnny Cash.
Dr. Rosso had moved to Tarzana in the '50s, when much of his developing neighborhood was still swaths of orange groves. He lived in his Tarzana house on Tampa Avenue for seven decades until his death.
Dr. Rosso, who was born Nov. 19, 1926, in Los Angeles, had a wonderful sense of humor and history, and loved to regale relatives with remembrances and nostalgic stories about the Southland. He was especially a rich repository of tales about the past century in Los Angeles, dating back to an era when he could freely camp and sleep on its beaches.
Dr. Rosso was among the area's first generation to be born in a hospital, and also was part of the first American generation to feed on baby formula.
He grew up in Beverly Hills alongside two siblings, Thomas and Marjorie, and graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1944. Interiors of his alma mater from that era can be glimpsed in the Frank Capra classic "It's a Wonderful Life."
During the World War II era, he completed his naval pilot training in Arizona.
He met his wife on their first day of USC dental school in 1946. Dr. Rosso was a passionate fan of Trojan sports, attending the school's football games for decades, often at the Coliseum but also traveling for many away games.
George and Norma were wed at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church on Sept. 10, 1949. They moved to the San Fernando Valley, where Dr. Rosso began his dental practice, and built their Tampa Avenue home in 1955. There they raised four children: Robert (born in 1951), Richard (1955), Carolynne (1958) and Kathleen (1959).
Dr. Rosso is survived by his son Robert (married to Robin), son Richard, and daughter Kathleen (married to Michael); seven grandchildren; and six great grandchildren, as well as his loving nieces and nephews.
Dr. Rosso is interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
Dr. Rosso embraced life with a big personality and a healthy thirst for adventure, including his decades of travels around most of the globe alongside his wife, Norma, who died July 15, 2011. He was especially fond of traveling to Europe, Australia and Hawaii.
Dr. Rosso was most at home in his native American West, however, where he loved to recreate by hitting its slopes and lakes, when not playing golf. He especially relished taking his wife and four children on many of those snow- and water-skiing trips.
He and Norma were members of Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch. They shared a love of square dancing and banjo concerts.
Dr. Rosso enjoyed a large circle of family and friends throughout his life, including scores of former classmates from his cherished alma mater, the University of Southern California.
For nearly four decades after USC, Dr. Rosso was a dentist on Ventura Boulevard in Encino, Calif., where his many patients included generations of families, as well as occasional celebrities, including Debbie Reynolds, John Wooden and Johnny Cash.
Dr. Rosso had moved to Tarzana in the '50s, when much of his developing neighborhood was still swaths of orange groves. He lived in his Tarzana house on Tampa Avenue for seven decades until his death.
Dr. Rosso, who was born Nov. 19, 1926, in Los Angeles, had a wonderful sense of humor and history, and loved to regale relatives with remembrances and nostalgic stories about the Southland. He was especially a rich repository of tales about the past century in Los Angeles, dating back to an era when he could freely camp and sleep on its beaches.
Dr. Rosso was among the area's first generation to be born in a hospital, and also was part of the first American generation to feed on baby formula.
He grew up in Beverly Hills alongside two siblings, Thomas and Marjorie, and graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1944. Interiors of his alma mater from that era can be glimpsed in the Frank Capra classic "It's a Wonderful Life."
During the World War II era, he completed his naval pilot training in Arizona.
He met his wife on their first day of USC dental school in 1946. Dr. Rosso was a passionate fan of Trojan sports, attending the school's football games for decades, often at the Coliseum but also traveling for many away games.
George and Norma were wed at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church on Sept. 10, 1949. They moved to the San Fernando Valley, where Dr. Rosso began his dental practice, and built their Tampa Avenue home in 1955. There they raised four children: Robert (born in 1951), Richard (1955), Carolynne (1958) and Kathleen (1959).
Dr. Rosso is survived by his son Robert (married to Robin), son Richard, and daughter Kathleen (married to Michael); seven grandchildren; and six great grandchildren, as well as his loving nieces and nephews.
Dr. Rosso is interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
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