FedEx founder Smith describes Rose as one of the ‘good guys’

Former Holiday Inns executive Mike Rose, who died Sunday at 75, left his name on a soccer complex and a few other buildings in town — but his real contribution was behind the scenes, FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith said.

In the wake of a jobs conference with then-Gov. Lamar Alexander in the early 1980s, Rose and Smith joined AutoZone founder Pitt Hyde, former First Tennessee CEO Ron Terry and former Dunavant Enterprises’ CEO Billy Dunavant Jr. to form a group that became known as the “Big Five.” Together, they invested and raised millions of dollars for projects that fueled the city’s distribution, medical and higher education sectors, and were instrumental in convincing St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital against moving to St. Louis.

“Had we not done those things, I think the city would be a very different place,” Smith said.

Terry, who knew Rose for 30 years, back to when he first moved to Memphis to work at Holiday Inns, said Rose was a “gentle,” thoughtful man — but unwavering once he’d found the right course.

“The one thing he did not do was say ‘no’ when the five of us needed to put together some good-sized money to do something for Memphis,” Terry said.

Rose’s family and longtime friends described a man who followed through on his commitments, whether that was improving Memphis, being a good father to his five children and five stepchildren — or in his sizzling serves in tennis matches with friends, including Smith and Terry.

“It’s hard to separate who he was in the business world from who he was as a man,” said son Morgan Rose.

That unwavering quality helped him go far in the business world. He and his team at Holiday Inns revolutionized the hospitality industry with “market segmentation,” the marketing of hotel brands to specific types of travelers, said Kevin Kane, CEO of the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“He was clearly a giant in the hospitality industry,” said Kane, another tennis sparring partner of Rose’s. “He was a giant in Memphis.”

Not all of Rose’s ventures were successful — he once clashed with Donald Trump over a joint venture in Atlantic City that went south, resulting in a lawsuit, according to his sons. But even then, he settled on a course of action and stuck with it. Later, as CEO of Harrah’s, Rose pioneered the expansion of casinos beyond Las Vegas, even taking advantage of a loophole in Mississippi law to divert the Mississippi River for the floating casinos of Tunica.

“If you started something, you finished it,” son Matthew Rose recalled, saying his father pushed his children to excellence in process, if not results. But at the same time, “he was a great giver of hugs,” Rose added. “He was a big man with a big wingspan.”

Mike Rose passed down a love of people to his children, who continue to live out his philanthropic principles through Memphis’ Rose Foundation.

Smith said one of the Roses’ biggest contributions was to the University of Memphis, which named the Michael D. Rose Theatre after him. Rose, Smith added, was one of the “good guys.”

“By ‘good guy,’ I mean someone who pitches in, who does their share,” Smith said. “Mike did that.”

Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe.