Philip Rose

Philip Bart Rose of Spokane, WA died on December 6, 2025. He was born on June 11, 1941 in Battle Creek, MI to Harold James and Elizabeth (Yankovich) Rose. Phil spent his childhood in Battle Creek and graduated from Battle Creek High School. He attended Kalamazoo College, where he pursued his passion for tennis and lifelong love of reading before graduating with a degree in Mathematics. Following graduate study in Mathematics at University of Colorado, he taught at Colorado Women’s College in Denver. He was an active member of St. Mary’s Anglican Church, where he met Terry Lynn (Rathbun) Cameron and her family. Years later, Terry relocated to Kalispell, MT after the sudden death of her husband. After exchanging some letters with her, Phil moved to Kalispell, and they married on July 26, 1981. Phil took readily to the role of raising Terry’s four children as his own.

In 1982, the family moved to Helena, MT, where Phil accepted a post as one of the founding faculty members of the Department of Computer Science at Carroll College. While employed at Carroll for 31 years, he spent a year of advanced graduate study at Oxford University and another year on sabbatical at University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He and Terry became Catholic in 1998 and sang in the choir at St. Helena Cathedral. Phil relished teaching, and Carroll College played a major role in his family’s life, with all four of his step-children graduating from there. He also taught Latin at the school Terry founded, St. Andrew School.

Always active and athletic, Phil suffered debilitating injuries in 2015, at the age of 74, following a near-fatal accident during a long-distance biking excursion. He retired from teaching, and he and Terry moved to Spokane to be closer to family and rehabilitation services. A true Renaissance Man, Phil spent his life pursuing a wide range of interests that included learning Latin and Anglo-Saxon, dancing tango, attending Shakespeare plays, watching Fred and Ginger tap dance, enjoying music ranging from Baroque to Dixieland Jazz, and memorizing poetry. He read and re-read J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings series decades before it became cool, earning himself the nickname “Philbo Baggins” among his students and peers. His family, friends, and students remember him for his fast-talking brilliance, generous and jovial spirit, sparkling wit, humble nature, steadfast optimism, corny puns, and lively conversations.

He leaves behind his wife, Terry of Spokane; a sister, Dee Rose Karp, of Dripping Springs, TX; two children, Michael of Atlanta, GA and Susan, of Sherbourne, England; four step-children, Gail Cameron of Portland OR, Brian and John, both of Spokane, and Gwendolyn Cameron Barlow (Jeremy) of Meridian, ID. Through both his children and step-children, he also leaves twelve grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was cremated and laid to rest at Queen of Peace Cemetery in Spokane, where his family held a private memorial service. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Carroll College Saints Scholarship Fund.