Rose was born in
Dunedin in 1939. He received his education at Waitahuna Primary and
John McGlashan College. Afterwards, he was a farmer in
Waitahuna in the
Clutha District, some from
Lawrence. He held roles with
Federated Farmers, the
Presbyterian Church,
Lions Clubs International, and the Lawrence Club. Rose married Christine Mary Fulton, the daughter of Bruce I. Fulton, on 22 October 1966. They had five daughters. He won the
Otago Central electorate in after the retirement of
Jack George, but was defeated by
Labour's
Ian Quigley in . He was one of four National Party incumbents from
Otago and
Southland who lost their normally blue electorate to the Labour challenger over the proposed raising of the lake levels of lakes
Manapouri and
Te Anau, which was opposed by the
Save Manapouri campaign. Labour's election manifesto was for the lakes to remain at their natural levels. In the
1994 Queen's Birthday Honours, Rose was awarded the
Queen's Service Medal for public services. In 1999, he was diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease. He published his autobiography,
More Than Meets the Eye, in 2010, with a reviewer commenting that the "political material is particularly interesting". Rose died in Dunedin on 5 August 2021. ==Bibliography==