Rose, Guide Paper Founder, Is Dead Of Leukemia At 77
Submitted by N.O.V.A.
Times Picayune 07-11-1995

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Ed Rose, who started a small West Bank newspaper and built
itinto a chain of weekly papers that reached 200,000 homes
andbusinesses in the New Orleans area, died Monday of leukemia.
Hewas 77.Mr. Rose, with two partners, began a free weekly
called TheWest Bank Guide in 1962, just as subdivisions in the
area werestarting to mushroom."On the West Bank, it almost
immediately took off," Mr. Rose,who lived in Harvey, said in an
interview earlier this year."People were starved for it."The
partners branched out with weeklies in East Jefferson,Orleans,
St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes before sellingthe papers
in 1978.Most recently, Mr. Rose wrote a column for The Times-
Picayune,a chatty feature full of personal anecdotes that ran
twiceweekly in the West Bank community news sections. His
failinghealth forced him to discontinue the column this
spring.Mr. Rose was born in Indianapolis in 1917. After
graduatingfrom Indiana University, he worked briefly at The
IndianapolisStar, then enrolled in the Columbia University
School ofJournalism in New York City, earning a master's degree
in 1939.He joined the staff of the Indiana Bureau of the
InternationalNews Service and eventually became assistant
bureau chief.He was drafted into the Army in 1942, and after
being honorablydischarged as a captain in 1946, he went to work
for the EastSide Shopper, a weekly paper in suburban Detroit.
He served asits editor and also sold ads when the paper's
owner, a collegefraternity brother, suggested he learn "the
business end ofnewspapers."In 1948, the same year he married
Eileen Fonberg, he and twopartners started a weekly newspaper,
The Gratiot Herald. Helater bought the partners out and
expanded the newspaper into achain of six weekly papers in
suburban Detroit.In 1962, Mr. Rose sold the newspapers and
started looking foranother paper to buy. John Makar, a
Natchitoches lawyer, andErbon W. Wise, a Sulphur newspaper
publisher, wanted to start ashopper - a free paper - on the
West Bank."I told them, 'I think it sounds like a good idea,
but mytraining is as a journalist. I think we can run a
realnewspaper, even though we won't charge for it.' "The three
partners "started on a shoestring," he said, eachputting up
$2,500. In July, the first edition went out to30,000 homes and
businesses. It had only six pages, but it grewfast, eventually
reaching a West Bank circulation of 70,000 andoften running 60
pages."The late '60s and '70s were our heyday," Mr. Rose said.
"TheWest Bank was booming. The paper grew by leaps and
bounds."In 1978, the partners decided to sell The Guide
Newspaper Corp.to Cox Newspapers for $5 million. The papers
were sold in 1986to MCP Inc., which eventually discontinued
publication of them.Earlier this year, Mr. Rose's career and
civic activitiesreceived recognition from Jefferson Parish
President MichaelYenni, who proclaimed March 14 "Ed Rose Day"
in the parish.The proclamation was announced at a meeting of a
West BankRotary Club, in which Rose had held every office,
includingpresident. He also served on the boards of directors
of theWest Bank Council of the Chamber of Commerce, the West
BankPetroleum Club and the Jefferson Chapter of the American
RedCross. He was a member of the Madonna Manor Advisory Board,
thePlimsoll Club and Bacchus.Mr. Rose began writing his column,
"Through Rose-ColoredGlasses," at The Guides and continued for
three years afterthey were sold.In early February, his column
in The Times-Picayune contained apersonal announcement: He had
leukemia and had decided to forgothe chemotherapy that offered
him only a 30 percent chance ofimprovement. His doctor had
given him 10 to 12 weeks to live."I thank all of you in advance
for your prayers," he wrote."I'm 77, have lived a good and full
life, and now I accept theinevitable."Survivors include his
wife, Eileen; and a sister, ShirleyMorgan of Indianapolis.A
memorial will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at Gretna
UnitedMethodist Church. Mothe Funeral Home is in charge
ofarrangements.