Rose, banking and civic leader, dies John 'Jake' Rose, left,was photographed in 2001 with George Nau Burridge. They helped organize Scholarship Inc., a scholarship foundation that has given more than $3.5 million to nearly 5,000 students since 1962 (file photo by Tina Gohr). The former Associated Bank president was 87 By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle John M. "Jake" Rose, who spent his life building what became Associated Bank and donated his time to a wealth of civic causes, died Tuesday. He was 87. Rose had been hospitalized since being injured in an automobile accident Oct. 2 near Austin Straubel International Airport. Rose, who started at his father's bank at age 15, became president of Kellogg-Citizens National Bank, one of the banks that merged to become Associated. He retired in 1986, but kept an office there for the rest of his life. "I don't poke my nose into bank business," he joked in a 2002 interview, "but they let me keep an office there and I still get mail." Green Bay News-Chronicle publisher Frank A. Wood worked closely with Rose. "Almost assuredly there would not be a second newspaper in this town if it were not for Jake Rose," Wood said. Rose's Kellogg/Associated banks have been Brown County Publishing Co.'s primary lender throughout most of its existence. Brown County Publishing is the parent company of The News-Chronicle. "He was without question the most powerful and influential individual in all of Northeast Wisconsin. He founded Associated Banc-Corp., which is now the second-largest financial institution in the state of Wisconsin," Wood said. "He was active on countless boards and civic organizations throughout all of his adult life. Nobody has meant more to the development of Northeast Wisconsin than Jake Rose." Rose's service to local government started with the Green Bay Water Commission in 1952 and continued through a long stint with the Green Bay Redevelopment Authority, which he left last year. He also helped develop, with George Nau Burridge, Scholarships Inc., a scholarship fund for high school students in the Green Bay area. Started in 1962, the fund has a $3.5 million endowment and has given more than $3.5 million to 4,500 students. He was instrumental in the decision to bring a University of Wisconsin campus to Green Bay. Working behind the scenes, Rose helped acquire land for the campus site, spearheaded early drives for private funds and laid the groundwork for what became UW-Green Bay. "He was perhaps the one man most responsible for the founding of the University of Wisconsin's Green Bay campus," Wood said. "He called in every chip he had to thwart an effort to locate the university in Appleton." Rose was a banker whose concern was not money, but people. When asked in 2001 how banking had changed through the years, he shook his head disapprovingly and said "damn computers. It's all computerized. The personal touch is gone. We had offices on the first floor and we greeted our customers. Now they're all upstairs. You don't have the personal touch any more." Rose was a Green Bay native, born May 9, 1916. Asked in 2002 why he stayed here, he said simply, "You got any better place?" One day, the 15-year-old Rose was late for dinner. As punishment, his father sent Jake to work at his bank as an errand boy. He worked there summers, then got a job at Kellogg. He would stay there through his career, with a break from 1941-45 in the Navy, where he served in the North Atlantic, South America and the Pacific. He served in a variety of operations, including working with seaplanes, blimps and as a group commander of landing crafts. Back at the bank, Rose made his way through the ranks, becoming president in 1972. Later in the decade, the bank merged with others to form Associated Bank. "I stuck with (banking) because it was not a monotonous business," he said. "Various people had various problems, and I liked working with them. It was enjoyable to lend money to people of all walks of life and watch them grow." And when he couldn't help them with loans, he tried to help through community service. His work there coincided with major developments in Green Bay. He was on the city's Water Commission during the time the city built a pipeline to Lake Michigan. He was on the Gregby Committee when that panel worked on downtown redevelopment. Redevelopment became a major part of his civic work as a member of the city's Redevelopment Authority from 1967 to 2002 and the Brown County Regional Planning Committee. He also served on the Green Bay School Board (1963-70), Metropolitan Sewerage district (1971-79), Brown County Housing Allowance (1978) and State Lottery Board (1989-92). Rose also worked with a group that tried to promote an alternative plan for the renovation of Lambeau Field instead of the half-percent sales tax that was passed in a referendum. He was generous with donations. He gradually bought up hunting land at the end of the Point au Sauble peninsula to keep it from being developed, and donated it to the Nature Conservancy (and through them to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay). His service was summed up in a favorite saying: "I'm here in this world, and you have to leave it to somebody," he said. "You don't own anything, and should leave the world better than you found it." No formal funeral service has been announced. The family plans to announce a memorial service at a later date.