Michael L. Rose

1952 - 2020

Michael L. Rose

Los Angeles - Michael L. Rose, 68, of Los Angeles, California, died Monday, Sept. 7, 2020, of complications from leukemia at City of Hope Hospital, with his wife Carol L. King by his side.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, he moved several times as a young child, before his family settled in Malibu, CA, where he said he had a wonderful "misspent adolescence" and spent days surfing at Zuma Beach.

Michael served from 1973 to 1975 as a pharmacy technician in both Germany and California.

After the Army, Michael enrolled at UCLA on the GI Bill. It was at UCLA that he found his life's calling as a storyteller using his interests in history, civic life and research to not only expose corruption or malfeasance, but also to illustrate some the most unique stories of the American experience. While at UCLA, he earned a bachelor's degree in history and a master's in fine arts with an emphasis on film. But more importantly, he joined the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a local community group, that identified a nuclear reactor on the campus of UCLA and worked to get the reactor decommissioned in 1984.

From there, he learned about was termed as a nuclear "incident" at the former Santa Susana nuclear site in 1959. Through his investigation, which included Freedom of Information Act requests, Michael was able to identify that the incident was actually a partial meltdown. Michael provided the documents and other research to KNBC which led to the site's shutdown and clean up.

Michael then became a producer for a show that was the forerunner of today's KPFK's Background Briefing where nuclear policy and foreign affairs were discussed weekly by national experts.

Upon his graduation, Michael looked for a job in the film industry when General Motors came calling. At the time, GM had one of the world's largest and most active creative services group where they produced a myriad of films for both internal and external audiences.

Over the next 10 years, he produced work for GM that highlighted not only corporate messages but important public service messages, including films around the dangers of drunk driving (where they really got the drivers drunk) to the value of seatbelts. One day though, another aspiring filmmaker reached out to Michael. This one was Michael Moore who was putting together the infamous, Roger and Me documentary. Moore needed archival GM footage and Michael surreptitiously provided the footage to Moore.

On leaving GM, Michael struck out on his own and began producing, directing, writing and filming shows for the History Channel, Discovery, PBS, and other outlets. His first production for the History Channel launch was the long-running series, Automobiles. Over the years, he produced the shows Great Cars and Great Drives. These shows highlighted the intersection of the human condition, history and the role that transportation played in advancing society's ideas and norms.

On one of his trips for Great Drives, he passed through Tupelo, MS, where he met Elvis Presley's childhood friends. Thus the special, Elvis: Return to Tupelo, was written, directed and produced by Michael.

Later, he wrote and published A Moment in Time 4 Days in '56, the story of Elvis' tour in Detroit at the Fox Theater and Dayton and Columbus, Oh.

Michael also founded with his wife, Carol King, King Rose Archives, a large trove of historical prints and archival footage from the 1930s through the 1970s.

His latest project prior to his death was a book he was writing about Aaron Sapiro, a young California attorney, who'd helped farmers organize marketing cooperatives to improve their quality of life. When Ford's newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, printed a 21-article barrage of anti-Semitic propaganda naming Sapiro as the head of a band of Jews conspiring to destroy the Anglo Saxon way of life one farm at a time. Sapiro sued Ford for libel. In 1927, Ford settled the lawsuit, issued an apology and closed the Dearborn Independent. Sapiro succeeded in exposing the anti-Semitism.

He is survived by his wife of 29 years, Carol; stepmother, Lu Rose of Liberty Heights, WA; stepbrother Jim Divine (Sandy) of Shady Cove, OR; stepsister, Dana Divine of Spokane, WA, and Dawn Divine-Gill of Woodbridge, VA; sisters-in-law, Patti (Ralph) Unger of Sterling Heights, MI, and Debbie King of Rochester, MI, and brother-in-law Mike (Phyllis) King, of Farmington Hills, MI; and many beloved nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Beverly Bain McKee and Robert L. Rose.

Michael had a deep and abiding commitment to social justice and cared deeply about the state of today's toxic political climate. To honor him, his wife asks you support progressive candidates with your time, money and vote on Nov. 3.