Judge Louis Rosen was born in 1910, in Charleston County, South Carolina. His parents were Russian immigrants. He graduated, with honors, from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1934. In 1936 he entered the law practice in Orangeburg. In 1941, he married Kathryn Limehouse, of Orangeburg, who survives him along with their three children and grandchildren.
He was elected to the Circuit Court in 1962, and served until his retirement on July 30, 1979.
Judge Rosen was a member of the American Bar Association, the South Carolina Bar Association and the Orangeburg County Bar Association. He served in World War II as a Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy. He was a member and President of many civic clubs. In speaking of the qualities of a judge, he said: First, last and always, a Judge should be a gentleman, in every sense of that word. “He should be learned in the law and have uncommon common sense. He should be impartial and without prejudice. He should administer justice according to the law and treat his office as a public trust for it is a public trust — a very sacred public trust.”
Louis Rosen held court in a firm and disciplined manner, and always with the courtliness of a Southern gentleman. Honesty, fairness, wisdom and integrity were the hallmarks of his court.
He died at Orangeburg, on his seventy-ninth birthday, December 29, 1989.
He is survived by his widow, Kathryn Rosen, his daughter, Bonnie Rosen Moses, wife of Perry Moses, III and their children, Michelle and Perry Moses, IV, of Sumter, by his daughter, Dr. Deborah Rosen, of Slidell, Louisiana; and his son, Louis Rosen, South Carolina Court Administrator, and his two children, George and John Rosen.