Rose Greene

Rose Greene (1946 – July 11, 2019) was an American activist and financial planner based on Los Angeles. She is remembered for organizing and launching a major fundraiser for HIV/AIDS care, the California AIDS Ride, a 545-mile bike ride along the coast of California.

Rose Greene
Born1946
Los Angeles, California
DiedJuly 11, 2019 (age 72)
Duarte, California
Occupation(s)Activist, financial planner
Known forco-chair, board of directors, Los Angeles LGBT Center
Notable workAIDSRide

Early life and education

Rose Greene was born in Los Angeles. Her father owned a cement company. Her mother died when she was a girl. Greene graduated from Fairfax High School in 1964,[1] and then earned a bachelor of fine arts at California State University, Northridge.[2] She pursued further studies in finance at the University of Southern California.[3]

Career

Greene taught high school briefly, and became a financial planner who specialized in advising clients and non-profit organizations in the gay and lesbian community.[3] She served as co-chair of the board of directors of the Los Angeles LGBT Center from 1989 to 1995, and from 2006 to 2011.[4][5][6] “I watched her become more and more of a leader, more and more of an advocate for the Center, and more and more outspoken and militant,” recalled Torie Osborn, the executive director of the Center.[3] In 1992, Greene chaired the search committee for Osborn's successor, the Center's current executive director, Lorri Jean.[7]

Greene headed the capital campaign for the Center's headquarters in the McDonald/Wright Building in Hollywood, opened in 1992, and oversaw development of the Center's Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic, opened in 1993. She organized the first California AIDS Ride in 1994, a seven-day bicycle tour of the California coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Ride has been a major successful fundraiser for HIV/AIDS research, prevention, and care in the decades since, and a model for similar events elsewhere.[2] It is now known as the AIDS/LifeCycle.[8]

Personal life

Greene was a founding member of Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood.[9] She married Helena Ruffin in 2008. Greene died from bone cancer in 2019, in Duarte, California, aged 72 years.[2]

References
  1. Fairfax High School, Colonial '64 (1964 yearbook): 37. via Ancestry.
  2. Pineda, Dorany (2019-07-15). "Rose Greene, L.A.'s early-day champion of LGBTQ rights, has died". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  3. Ocamb, Karen (2019-07-23). "Memorial for Rose Greene, lesbian checkbook activist, set for August 4". Los Angeles Blade: LGBTQ News, Rights, Politics, Entertainment. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  4. Ocamb, Karen (October 24, 1991). "LA Center Fundraiser Draws Stars, $170,000". Bay Area Reporter. pp. 1, 14. Retrieved May 30, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  5. Diaz, Gil. "Los Angeles LGBT Center Mourns the Death of Former Board of Directors Member Rose Greene". Los Angeles LGBT Center. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  6. Ocamb, Karen (July 23, 1992). "Navratilova, Tomlin Lend Hand at Colorado Initiative Fundraiser". Bay Area Reporter. p. 11. Retrieved May 30, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  7. Boxall, Bettina (1992-09-22). "Gay Center Picks New Director". The Los Angeles Times. p. 26. Retrieved 2022-05-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "AIDS/LifeCycle – June 5-11, 2022". Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  9. "Legacy Circle: Securing Our Future". Congregation Kol Ami. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
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