Gene Rose

Gene Rose is a veteran California journalist and historian living in Oakland, California. Growing up in the Sierra during the 1930s and 1940s, he has a life-long vantage point on the history of the Golden State. He began his newspaper career while in high school with the Grass Valley-Nevada City Union. After serving in the Navy in WWII, he attended the University of Oregon School of Journalism. In 1951, he joined the Sacramento Bee and began a career with McClatchy Newspapers that spanned 41 years. In 1960, he was transferred to the Fresno Bee as a combination reporter and photographer, specializing in public lands of the Sierra Nevada. He is the author of ten Sierra-related books, including High Odyssey (the saga of the first winter-long exploration by Orland Bartholemew of the High Sierra); Reflections of Shaver Lake; The San Joaquin—A River Betrayed; Sierra Centennial: 100 Years of Pioneering on the Sierra National Forest; Yosemite’s Tioga Country; Magic Yosemite Winters; Giants Among the Forests: One Hundred Years on the Sequoia National Forest; Kings Canyon: America’s Premier Wilderness Park; Mount Whitney: America’s Mountain; and Snow Warriors. At 95 years old, he has passed his deep love of the Sierra on to his wife, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, his readers, and many beloved friends.