Hospitality executive boosted Holiday Inns, formed Promus, kept promises

Hospitality executive Michael D. Rose died of cancer Sunday in Nashville, having spent much of his lifetime keeping promises he made to Memphis. He was 75.

The Ohio-native had lived in Memphis five years when he set the tone for his community service in a speech to the Whitehaven Rotary Club in 1979.

In those first five years here, the then-37-year-old executive had shot up the ranks of Holiday Inns to become president. His leadership in restructuring the company helped raise operating income by 90 percent in three years.

But Rose almost apologetically acknowledged having "spent 100 percent or a little more of my time’’ on company matters, The Commercial Appeal reported at the time. “I have not spent much time in the local community. I admit that...

“My wife and I are delighted with Memphis,'' he said. "We want to make a contribution as a company and as individuals and we will do our best. That’s a promise you can hold me to.’'

Within a few years, Rose would become an active member of the Memphis Arts Council, directly or indirectly help Memphis attract a convention center hotel developer, encourage his employees to also volunteer for civic causes, share his experience on hotels and casinos as "executive in residence'' for Memphis State business students, and be named "Outstanding Citizen of 1985" by Civitan Clubs of the Greater Memphis Area.

Rose "kept his word, and then some,'' Commercial Appeal editorial staff writer Norman Brewer wrote in 1981.

Born in Akron and moving with his middle-class family to Cincinnati at age 12, Rose was the son of an accountant. The boy grew into a towering 6-6 frame befitting a basketball forward. He played in high school  but not college.

He spoke with a deep, soothing voice and sported a deeper, ever-present tan.

Rose also had a mind and work habits that won him academic scholarships. He earned a degree in business administration from the University of Cincinnati in 1963 and returned to Cincinnati in 1966 with a law degree from Harvard.

He joined a law firm which assigned him to work with a successful Holiday Inns franchisee, Roy Winegardner. The two worked so well together that Rose left law to form a company in 1972 with Winegardner, now his mentor in the hospitality industry.

The early 1970s were harsh on Memphis-based Holiday Inns and other hotels. A recession and fuel shortages wreaked havoc on the travel industry.

Holiday Inns corporate headquarters recruited Winegardner, who brought Rose along with him to Memphis.

Rose would rise to chief executive by 1981 and board chairman by 1982.

By February 1990, Rose led Holiday Corp. to become The Promus Companies at the same time the company sold its Holiday Inns properties to Bass PLC for $2.23 billion. Promus still operated five casino/hotels, one stand-alone casino, 99 Embassy Suites, 216 Hampton Inns and had dozens of other hotels under construction.

Various publications described him as a practitioner of disciplined corporate management and a master long-term planner. A 1979 Commercial Appeal story reported Rose could "be ruthless to those who don't measure up in the executive suite where 60 hour weeks are the norm.''

Rose retired from Harrah’s in 1996 and as chairman of Promus in 1997, but continued keeping his promises.

Jim Rout was Shelby County mayor when a group of soccer parents struggled to raise funds for badly needed playing fields east of Memphis.

Then one day Rose came to Rout telling the mayor that the parents had approached Rose with the beautiful plans for a soccer complex, renderings and a request for $150,000-$200,000. In return, the parents told Rose they would name the fields for him. The project resonated with Rose because his children had played soccer.

"He said, 'I've got a proposition I don't think you can refuse','' Rout recalled.

"He showed me the (renderings) of the 16 fields, nice blacktop road coming off Forest Hill-Irene, restrooms and water fountains. He said that many times those things don't turn out how they look in renderings, particularly if it's a government project if the money gets tight...

"He said, 'If you make me a promise I'll make you one','' Rout recalled. '' 'You promise me it will look just like that and will be that quality for those 16 fields and those restrooms, and I will raise or give half of the $5 million'.''

"I said, 'Mike, that's $2.5 million'. He said, 'That's right'. I said, 'Hey, let's shake hands. You've got a deal'.''

Rose delivered the $2.5 million. Today, the Mike Rose Soccer Complex offers 16 fields and a 2,500-seat stadium.

Rose became concerned enough about his adopted city that he would speak out occasionally. In a 1982 story about Rose, The Commercial Appeal's Brewer quoted him as saying he had become acquainted with the city's "pervasive racial distrust, the absence of positive attitudes and the lack of robust business expansion. I am concerned about the future of Memphis.

"I felt it was unfair to criticize leaders for not being visible and active if I'm not. I thought I would try to do my part,'' Rose said.

Rose, FedEx founder Fred Smith and the then-Malone & Hyde chairman J.R. "Pitt'' Hyde III backed attorney Mike Cody to run for interim city mayor in 1982. Dick Hackett won the race, but Cody never forgot what Rose told him before the election.

"He said, 'I want you to know that if you do win, I'll never ask you to do anything for me','' Cody recalled. "I thought that's something you don't expect to hear.''

Cody has an enduring image of Rose, too, from the 1980s.

Cody, a well-known Memphis runner, was running down a mountain trail near Aspen, Colorado. Rose was also vacationing in the area, and rode along on his bike as Cody ran.

They reached the valley surrounded by mountains when Rose asked Cody what time Cody would be running the next day.

"He said, 'Why don't you run about 7:15 or 7:30 (a.m.) and when you get to this point, look up to the top of that ledge on the side of that mountain? I'm going to jump off of it with a para sail'.''

Cody did as Rose suggested, and watched as Rose stepped to the edge the ledge for a tandem flight with a professional guide.

"Sure enough, he glided off,'' Cody said, describing the beauty of the para sail slowly circling down to the field below.

Michael D. Rose had kept another promise.