David Rosen passed away on Christmas Day at age 95 surrounded by family. For those unfamiliar with that name, he was the co-founder of SEGA, created in the merger between Rosen Enterprises and Nihon Goraku Bussan, Ltd.. Rosen Enterprises was founded in 1954 in Japan where Rosen remained after WW2 and imported coin-op amusement machines from North America, while Nihon Goraku Bussan, Ltd.was also founded by Americans, and was known as Service Games, and the merged business became Sega Enterprises, Ltd., with Rosen serving as CEO and managing director.
Rosen helped Sega broker the deal that saw Sega become part of the vast American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries in 1969, and when Gulf and Western decided to sell off many of its assets following the death of its boss, Charles Bluhdorn, in 1983, Rosen teamed up with Hayao Nakayama and Isao Okawa to buy out the Japanese side of the company, creating Sega Ltd. Rosen would later establish and serve as Chairman of Sega of America, a position he retained until 1996, when he retired.
