KENT, Conn.—Benjamin M. Rosen, recognized as a visionary figure in the American technology industry and a devoted husband, father, and grandfather, passed away peacefully on August 23, 2026, in New York City. He was 93 years old.
Rosen made his home in New York and maintained a residence in Kent for 24 years. During his time in Kent, he and his wife, Donna, purchased a modernist home designed by Charles Gwathmey, and in 2015, they founded the non-profit ideas festival, KentPresents.
He was born on March 11, 1933, in New Orleans, La. He built a career that helped shape the personal computer revolution. After earning a B.S. from the Califonria Institute of Technology, an M.S. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, he spent 15 years on Wall Street, rising to Senior Technology Analyst and Vice President at Morgan Stanley, where his industry newsletter became essential reading for anyone following the electronics business.
In 1981, he co-founded the venture capital firm Sevin Rosen Funds with L.J. Sevin, backing a generation of transformative technology companies including Lotus Development, Electronic Arts, Silicon Graphics, and Cypress Semiconductor. That same year, he became chairman of Compaq Computer Corporation, a role he would hold for 18 years, briefly stepping in as acting CEO in 1999.
Under his leadership, Compaq grew from a startup into one of the great American technology companies of its era. His contributions to the industry earned him recognition as one of Computerworld’s “25 people who changed the world” in computing, among many other honors.
Rosen remained deeply engaged with Caltech throughout his life, serving as chairman of its Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2005 and later as a life trustee. He was also active for decades with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, retiring as Trustee Emeritus, the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and Columbia Business School.
Following his retirement, Rosen and his wife, Donna, turned their attention to a new venture born out of a shared love of ideas: KentPresents, a not-for-profit ideas festival they founded in 2015 in Kent. Modeled loosely on the Aspen Ideas Festival, KentPresents grew into one of the largest gatherings of its kind in the Northeast, drawing renowned speakers such as William Burns, Isabelle Seldorf, Francis Arnold, Henry Kissinger, Daniel Mendelsohn, James Hoge, and Harold Varmus.
True to the couple’s values, the festival’s proceeds supported local charities in Litchfield County, and Rosen often said the joy of it was in bringing extraordinary minds together for the benefit of a community he and his wife had come to love.
Rosen is survived by his beloved wife, Donna Perret Rosen; his sons, Jeffrey Rosen (Tanu Ghosh Rosen) and Eric Rosen (Mary Richerson); his step-daughter, Melanie Perret; his grandchildren, Andrew, Kassidy, Benjamin, Noah, Mark, and Ajanta Rosen; his niece, Faye Weisler; and his nephews, Rocky and Robert Rosen.
He was preceded in death by his sister, Ruth Weisler, and his brother, Dr. Harold Rosen. The family is also grateful to his caregivers: Connie Pingol, Hannah Ligne-Metti, Debra McLennon, Sokona Sissoko, Luis Medina, Elna Grace, Carmen Nauta, Charlotte Hall, Bryan Oliver, Mary Ellen Durkin and Alan Gawal.
Rosen will be remembered as a brilliant, generous and endlessly curious man –a mentor to countless entrepreneurs, a champion of big ideas, and, to his family, simply as Benji who liked to say he saw the world “through Rosen-Colored Glasses.” He was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather whose warmth and wit touched everyone who knew him.
Contributions can be sent to California Institute of Technology; Memorial Sloan Kettering; Hospital for Special Surgery, or the New York Philharmonic.
