Donald John Roose

On May 28th, Donald John Roose, 85, of Bainbridge Island, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family. Don was born in Ilion, New York to Erma and John Roose.

In his high school years, Don found an early passion for sports cars and rebuilt his first car at age 16 with the help of his father. He loved music and played the trumpet in the marching band as well as concert and jazz bands at Mohawk High School. He attended Union College in Schenectady, New York. His friends love to tell the story of Don getting kicked off campus and going on suspension for owning a car while on academic scholarship. A Jaguar no less!

He met his future wife, Meredith, the year after graduating college. They went on a blind date in Manhattan and were engaged within 8 weeks! After winning over Meredith’s somewhat frightening father from Alaska, they were married in 1965.

He dedicated his working life to hospitality in one form or another. His early career was spent working for Patricia Murphy in her restaurants in New York and Florida, quickly rising to an executive level. He subsequently spent time managing Hilton and Winchell’s Donuts before beginning a decade in Los Angeles with the French company, Café Casino. Don made lifelong friends at Café Casino and travelled to Europe on countless trips. He quickly became fluent in French and found a love of the culture. His well-honed “Joie de Vivre” was certainly influenced by this chapter of his life.

In 1986, Meredith and Don made the decision to relocate to Bainbridge Island, where they could reap the benefits of a quieter island life and a good school system for their girls. Don took a year off work to build the house where he ended up residing for fifty years. He had their new home designed simply so that he and his friend, Jerome, were able to build it with just the two of them! There was nothing that Don could not do, if he put his mind to it!

Shortly after finishing his house, Don embarked to create Bainbridge Senior Living. He truly loved the senior living business and was grateful to have a meaningful operation on the island, supporting people as they aged.

Don possessed an innate exuberance for life that defined his entire existence. He rejected the notion of waiting for retirement to enjoy his interests; instead, he embraced his passions with total commitment, seven days a week from a very young age. His lifelong love affair with automobiles was far more than a hobby, it was an active, hands-on pursuit. Don didn’t just admire cars; he built them and raced them, thriving in the performance racing community for years. He restored countless cars, from Austin-Healeys and Porsches to Jaguars and Fords. Even in his 80s, his curiosity remained electric, leading him to begin collecting 1960s Honda motorcycles with the same intensity he had applied to his projects as a teenager.

His adventurous spirit was equally at home on the water. A dedicated sailor, Don crossed the Atlantic in his 50s and competed in international races as far afield as Sardinia. He was an avid member of the Seattle Yacht Club and the Cruising Club of America. Whether he was navigating the high seas or fishing and crabbing with his family, he found deep satisfaction in the physical challenge and the beauty of the water.

Don, with his wife, Meredith, loved great cuisine and they loved to travel. Whether enjoying fine restaurants and wine pairings or cooking at home with vegetables and herbs fresh from the garden, he valued quality sit-down meals, savored good flavors, and loved to try and share special wines. He was the consummate host. Nothing brought him more joy than to bring friends and family together around the dinner table, at his “sky box” car shop for a football game, or to a party on the dock to enjoy fresh seafood.

Don lived for the present moment, always busy planning his next project or adventure. Just months before he passed, he was still ordering salmon fishing gear and preparing to install the engine in his 1973 911 Outlaw. He didn’t just pass through life; he actively engaged with every piece of it, leaving behind a legacy defined by an infectious spirit and a refusal to let a single day go to waste. Don is survived by his wife Meredith, his daughters Morgan Rohrbach and Whitney Anderson, his two sons by marriage, Nicholas and John, his sister, Cathy Roose, his two nieces Kelly and Erin, and his six beloved grandchildren: Mason, Simi, Mack, Maggie, Gus and William.

In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to Children’s Hospital in Seattle.