David Rosen, a New York City native who was one of the original founders of Sega Games in post-war Japan, died Thursday, Dec. 25, at his home in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles.
According to his spokesman Brad Callaway, he was surrounded by family members when he passed peacefully. Rosen, along with Marty Bromley, Ray Lamaire, Dick Dodderer and several other American expatriates, started the company as an amusement operation called Service Games (i.e. Sega), eventually turning it into a leading manufacturer with the production of such early arcade pieces as Periscope and Monaco GP.
Rosen himself was key to the company’s expansion into export, especially in the North American market which they entered in the 1960s.
As partners like Bromley himself left the company over the years, Dave Rosen became the face of the prominent games maker as it built its reputation and product catalog along with financial moves that at one time made it a division of the old Gulf+Western combine.
Sega’s roots were always in amusement games, which eventually brought them into the home video market where games featuring their familiar Sonic the Hedgehog character dominated many consoles.
His funeral was held on Jan. 2 at Inglewood Park Cemetery. Rosen’s prominence in the coin machine industry earned him a place in the AAMA’s Hall of Fame (he was also once celebrated by that association’s Charitable Foundation at their Man of the Year dinner in Las Vegas).