Jeremy Rosen

Milwaukee native Jeremy Shawn Rosen died of cancer on July 12. He was 25.

Diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare childhood cancer, during his senior year at Homestead High School in Mequon, Rosen spent the final seven plus years of his life fighting the disease and living as normal a life as possible.

“He was so positive,” said his brother, Zachary Rosen of Mequon. “Not one day was he ever scared.”

A shooting guard on Homestead’s varsity basketball team during his junior year, Jeremy Rosen made the team his senior year but was unable to play due to his illness.

He maintained a connection with the team, however, watching practice and occasionally taking chemotherapy on the bench. He suited up for the last game of the season.

Rosen was very active with Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer (MACC) and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. After his high school basketball coach, John Chekouras, died in 2006, Rosen helped the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association raise more than $95,000 for the MACC Fund.

His family and friends started “Team Jeremy Rosen” for the fund’s “Trek 100” bike event and raised more than $100,000 over the last few years. Though he loved the fact that they were raising money, Rosen never wanted the focus to be on him.

“He did not want his name used for the team,” said Zachary Rosen. “He said the money was not raised for him; it was raised for every kid.”

At last year’s event, Rosen, who wasn’t feeling well, stayed outside all day, thanking everyone who rode for him despite the bad weather, his brother said.

Jeremy Rosen worked at the Marquette Basketball Summer Day Camp during the summers of 2006 and 2007. He ran up and down the court refereeing games, holding a clipboard, and showing kids how to pass, dribble, shoot and defend despite his having lost the use of one leg and depending on crutches.

“The kids loved him,” said Zachary. “I coached there last year [during a different session] and they were still asking about him.”

At times, Rosen would fall, either on the court or in other public places, but he was never embarrassed, said Zachary. He just got up and went about his business. Whenever his father made plans to arrive early and get easily accessible seats for a sporting event such as a Badgers game, Jeremy insisted on getting regular seats and not making special plans to avoid the crowd.

“He didn’t mind climbing the steps [to get to his seat] or holding up the line. He was always determined to make his life normal,” Zachary said, adding, “He tried to live everyday and always did the most he could do.”

One of the sources of Jeremy’s strength, said Zachary, was his girlfriend, Mailen Pankiewicz. The two met while vacationing in Florida about six months prior to Rosen’s diagnosis, and immediately became inseparable.

A Jewish Argentinain, Pankiewicz, 23, moved into the Rosens’ Mequon home after the diagnosis and became a part of the family.

Rosen attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but was never able to complete an entire semester. He did have the opportunity to study for six months in Argentina in 2004, and Pankiewicz accompanied him on the trip.

“He could speak about two words of Spanish, but for some reason he got along great with everybody he met [there],” said Pankiewicz.

On July 4, Rosen’s 25th birthday, the couple were married at the Rosens’ home. The official state marriage license, expedited because of his failing health, was signed just days later.

“He was very happy,” his sister, Nicole Rosen of Mequon, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He told me, ‘It was the best, best day of my entire life.’”

Rabbi Ronald Shapiro, who had a special relationship with Rosen and visited him often, officiated at the wedding. Rosen eagerly anticipated Shapiro’s visits and made sure there were no nurses, doctors or other visitors, besides family members, around when he came.

“[Jeremy] would make sure he was up, that he was ready.… When the rabbi came it was like his life was being brought to him,” Zachary said. Shapiro always left with a song, which Rosen especially loved.

“He thought [Shapiro] had the greatest voice in the world,” Zachary added.

Rosen is further survived by his parents, Kari and Richard Rosen, DDS, of Mequon; maternal grandfather Selwyn Glincher of Milwaukee; and paternal grandmother Esther Rosen, of Fox Point.

Funeral arrangements were handled by Goodman-Bensman Whitefish Bay Funeral Home. Services were officiated by Rabbi Ronald Shapiro at Congregation Shalom on July 15. Burial was in Mound Zion Cemetery.

The family appreciates memorial contributions to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Pediatric Oncology, c/o Jeremy Rosen Memorial Fund for Sarcoma Research, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, Texas, 77210.