Robert “Bob” Rosen, a pioneering film historian, archivist and former dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television, has died. He was 84. Rosen died Wednesday, UCLA said without specifying a cause of death.
Born in 1940, Rosen was named Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 1999, a position he held for slightly more than a decade. Before that, he served as director of archives at UCLA starting in 1975, growing the school’s original film and TV vault into a world-leading collection. That appointment grew out of an invitation to teach one 10-week course at the UCLA Department of Film and Television in 1974.
“I never left. Understanding motion pictures and teaching filmmakers was to become my life’s goal, and over the course of the next four decades, I served as professor, then department chair, and finally for 11 years as dean of the school,” Rosen said at the 68th International Federation of Film Archives Congress in Beijing in 2012. “Bob was a transformative figure at UCLA, and his contributions to the field of film and television education, as well as his leadership here at the School of Theater, Film and Television, have left an indelible mark on our community,” UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Dean Brian Kite said in a statement.
“Bob’s impact on the global film community was profound, and his legacy will continue to shape the industry for years to come.” In 2008, Rosen told the that studying classic films helped y.