Henry Rose supports the purchase of learning materials

Henry Rose ’51 remembers well the financial stress that he and his Buffalo Law classmates faced: Law books were so darned expensive. He had been elected to what was then the Student Council, and he saw a problem that needed a solution.

He had two: He arranged a way for students to buy and sell their used law books, and he created the Law School bookstore, cutting out the middleman by obtaining casebooks on consignment from the publishers.

Problem solved: Books became more affordable, and the Student Council even took a small cut from the sales proceeds to help fund social activities.

Now Rose is making that crusade a permanent legacy, with a $60,000 gift to the Law School to support the purchase of books and other materials by second- and third-year students. “I’ve been making some gifts all along,” he says, “but I was moved to make a more specific gift.” The recipients are to be students who have done well in their studies and can demonstrate financial need.

Rose certainly did well with his Buffalo Law degree. From a working-class background in Buffalo, he enlisted in the Navy, then earned his bachelor’s and law degrees, both cum laude, at UB. He went on to teach at Northwestern Law School; worked in Washington at the National Labor Relations Board; practiced in Buffalo (and taught as an adjunct at the Law School) for three years; did graduate work at Yale; and then, after a series of teaching and research appointments, went on to spend most of his career with the Department of Labor. Among other achievements he helped draft the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and served for 10 years as general counsel of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which was created by ERISA.

At UB, Rose bucked the nominating system to win election to the student government, the Board of Managers, as a write-in candidate. He also helped start a new student newspaper, the Argus – and in Law School became one of the founding editors of the Buffalo Law Review, whose first issue was published in his senior year.

“I really enjoyed it – not only the extracurricular activities, but I enjoyed the academics as well,” Rose says. “The Law School and the University have made a big difference in my life.”