Rabbi Kenneth D. Roseman passed away on the morning of April 26, 2020, after several weeks of battling the COVID-19 virus. Born in Washington, D. C., Rabbi Roseman (1939-2020) had a childhood filled with world travel – living in Washington, Switzerland, Greece, Cambodia, and France. His father was an American diplomat who specialized in international projects of human assistance. Through his many travels as a child, Rabbi Roseman developed a unique view of the world as a whole. His many travels during his youth helped shape his vision and ideology of a life of service, giving, scholarly practice and open-mindedness.

During his service in the U.S. Army, he traveled to Cambodia as part of the U.S. Mission to Cambodia. Following his service he attended Oberlin College. While in college, he was mentored by the late Rabbi Balfour Brickner who was a leading Reform rabbi and influenced his choice of a rabbinic career. Roseman graduated with honors and was nominated by the faculty for a Rhodes Scholarship. While this was a very prestigious honor, he elected to attend the seminary at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, where he graduated and was ordained in 1966.

Rabbi Roseman remained at HUC-JIR as a member of the faculty, earning his Ph.D. in American-Jewish history and serving as Acting Dean and Dean for eight years. In 1974, he became Director of the Institute for Jewish Life in NYC. In 1976, he took his first pulpit at Temple Beth-El in Madison, Wisconsin, as the rabbi from 1976 to 1985. He subsequently moved on to a senior rabbi position at Temple Shalom in Dallas, where he also taught American Jewish history at Southern Methodist University.

In 1985, Rabbi Roseman received the Simon Lazarus Prize for Academic Achievement, the Farband Prize in Hebrew, and the B'nai Zion Prize in Hebrew from HUC-JIR. Oberlin College awarded Rabbi Roseman the James K. Newton Prize in Far Eastern History and the Life Prize in American History. More recently, the Texas Historical Commission awarded him the Parmelee Prize for his book, Lone Stars of David: Jews of Texas.

Rabbi Roseman was a prolific author and educator. His Jewish history books for adolescents have received prestigious prizes and are used throughout the Reform Jewish movement. His most recent book, Of Tribes and Tribulations, includes a provocative challenge of how to meet the legitimate expectations of the congregation and his own drive to succeed in his chosen profession, yet at the same time develop the broader interests, contacts and perspectives that would fulfill other dimensions of his life."