David L. Rose

1931 - 2023

ROSE

David L. ROSE

A civil rights attorney, he was the first Section Chief of the Employment Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, where he served from 1969 until 1987. He hired and trained a diverse and cohesive team of lawyers and staff who helped desegregate the American workforce by race and sex by bringing pattern or practice lawsuits under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Section lawyers sued and won cases that created equal job opportunities in major industries such as construction, trucking, steel, telecommunications, public utilities, airlines and manufacturing-- and later in state and local governments, police and fire departments around the country. Under Rose's leadership, the Section helped craft the foundations for modern civil rights law, winning landmark decisions establishing the validity of statistical proof, disparate impact, and remedial affirmative action in cases such as Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (where Mr. Rose co-authored the brief). He also helped write the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection, the authoritative guide to compliance with federal employment discrimination law.



Joining the DOJ in 1956, he had previously served as the Assistant Chief of the Appellate Section in the Civil Division, and then Special Assistant to Attorney General Ramsey Clark, where he coordinated Title VI efforts and filed the Division's first employment discrimination cases. After retiring from the federal government in 1987, he continued to practice employment law in the Rose & Rose firm.



He was born in 1931 and grew up in Gardner, Massachusetts. He graduated with honors from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.



He married Ann Eccles Rose in 1957 and they settled in Washington, DC and later Chevy Chase, MD where they raised their four children. He served as president of Temple Sinai in Washington, DC from 1992 to 1994.



He is survived by his wife, Ann Rose, children Mark Rose (Consuelo Guibert), Josh Rose (Rebecca), Elizabeth Rose (Jack Dougherty), and Rebecca Vasquez (Ricardo Vasquez); grandchildren Rachael, Herschel, Maimon, Eli, Elise, Eva, Raphi, Paul, Maya, and Daniel; and great-granddaughters Sophie and Shira, as well as nieces and nephews.



Funeral services will be held at Temple Sinai, 3100 Military Road NW, Washington on Wednesday, September 27 at 10:30 a.m.



Donations may be made in his memory to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law or the Legal Defense Fund.