William Albert (Bill, Billy) Rosen (born
September 12, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American bridge
player, best known for winning the 1954 Bermuda Bowl world
championship.
Rosen won his first national title in 1952, the National Men's Pairs in partnership with Arthur Grau. In August 1953, Rosen made the pages of Life Magazine, when he and Milton Ellenby won the prestigious Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs to become the youngest pair ever to win the event.
The same year he won the McKenney Trophy which the American Contract Bridge League gives to the player earning the most masterpoints in a calendar year. Rosen won the Spingold tournament twice in a row, in 1953 and 1954, the latter helping him qualify for that years Bermuda Bowl world team championship. The Bermuda win made him, at 25 years old, the youngest world champion at the time and earned him the title of World Bridge Federation World Life Master. Rosen won his last national championship in 1980.
In a 1983 column, Alan Truscott of The New York Times called Bill Rosen "one of the greatest names in the game."
Rosen worked as an options trader at the Chicago Board Options Exchange before retiring in 1994. He lives in Highland Park, Illinois with his wife Eunice Rosen, also a champion bridge player.
Eunice Marya Rosen (born September 6, 1930) is an important American bridge player.
In 1958 and in 1966, Eunice and Bill won the Master Mixed Teams, now known as the Chicago Mixed Board-a-Match tournament. In 2000, she won the Whitehead Women's Pairs playing with Joan Stein. Her impressive defensive bridge skills became widely regarded in the bridge community, resulting in a write-up in The New York Times column covering one of her remarkable moves.
In a 1982 New York Times column, Alan Truscott called Eunice Rosen "one of the leading players in the game".
Her parents were Samuel and Marion Berg. Eunice and William live in Highland Park, Illinois. They have four children: Marc Jeremy Rosen, Marta Jane Freud, James David Rosen and Gary Andrew Rosen.