Kirk Roose, lead of our 1967 MAD Champs the Continental Four, died on Friday, April 27, 2018, peacefully at home after fighting a very difficult 2-year battle with cancer. He was just 71 years of age.
Since joining his first barbershop quartet in junior high school more than 50 years ago, he lived and breathed four-part harmony. He was a consummate quartet singer, international medalist chorus director, prolific arranger and coach, avid woodshedder, and devoted evangelist for the hobby, bringing sons Kevin & Carl into barbershop along with plenty of others. Nothing made him happier than ringing a chord or teaching a new tag, and nobody meant more to him than his brothers in harmony.
Here he is, directing the Elyria Cascade Chordsmen (JAD) in 1981.
Kirk was an sought after arranger, quartet and chorus coach, harmony education school faculty, chorus director, and quartetman. He was a barbershop hero to many and excelled in all areas of our hobby. Kirk directed many choruses in the MAD including Manhattan, Wilmington, Cherry Hill (1981 5th-Place Medalists under Kirk's directing), and Bryn Mawr, as well as the Northern Cascade Chordsmen in the JAD where he was the 1996 inductee in the JAD Hall of Fame.
The Matinee Idols quartet at Ladies' Night 2014 - Northern Cascade Chordsman
It was less than 2 years ago that MADAQC celebrated the Continental Four's 50th Anniversary in Lancaster, the city where they were featured a short 5 decades prior on the Red Rose Chapter show ... helping to launch them to their District championship. Please go to this MADAQC link to read a full biography about the quartet. Here also is a YouTube video of their last performance in 1999.
C4's 50th w/ Mike Kelly filling in on a few songs (Fall 2016)
Professionally, Kirk received his B.A. degree from Swarthmore College and his J.D. degree (Cum Laude) from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He was the founder in 1982 of the law office of Roose & Ressler in Lorain County, OH where the firm specialized in Social Security disability law. Over the years, the practice grew to 4 offices that served central and northern and Ohio.
We send our condolences to Kirk's family (son's Kevin and Carl and wife Diana of 50 years), his friends throughout the Barbershop Harmony Society, and his many quartet pals including Roger and Phil from the Continental Four. Kirk was an incredible musical talent with amazing skills, an inspiring personality, and an unrelenting desire to help others to be the best they could be. He will be greatly missed and long remembered. May he rest in harmony.
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