JOSEPH GEORGE ROSENGARTEN. v 



the management of his father's Ijusiness affairs, for the elder Rosen- 

 garten by virtue of his unusual ability was not only a pioneer in 

 founding and building up a large chemical establishment, but became 

 interested in many other business ventures, and with rare foresight 

 promoted enterprises that proved to be of value to the country as 

 well as successful from a financial point of view. 



I have not been able to ascertain when 'Mr. Rosengarten's partici- 

 pation in the work of the many public institutions with which he 

 became connected, and with which his name \\\\\ always be asso- 

 ciated, began. In the case of the University of Pennsylvania there 

 was no interruption in his interest from the year 1848, when he 

 entered the college as a freshman, until his death. By the close of 

 the seventies we find him absorbed also in other public institutions 

 like the House of Refuge and the German Hospital, now the Lan- 

 kenau Hospital. He was elected a member of the board of managers 

 of the House of Refuge in 1878, served as vice-president of the 

 corporation from 1893 to 1910, and as president from 191 1 to 1914. 

 He was the assistant chairman of the board from 1893 to 1908, and 

 the chairman from 1908 till 1914. It was largely through his urgency 

 that the complete change in the treatment of the juvenile offenders 

 was carried out through the removal of the institution from the city 

 to the country, — at Glen Mills for the boys, and at Sleighton Farms 

 for the girls. Instead of being treated as prisoners the boys and girls 

 were placed in homes organized on the cottage system. They were 

 placed at work in the fields, given enlarged opportunities for educa- 

 tion, and through gymnastic exercises placed in a receptive physical 

 condition for receiving cultural influences through music and other 

 high forms of entertainment. 



Mr. Rosengarten was a close friend of the late John D. Lan- 

 kenau. the great benefactor of the institution which now properly 

 bears his name, and many of the plans for the enlargement of the 

 hospital and the home were carried out by Mr. Lankenau in consul- 

 tation with ^Ir. Rosengarten. He served from 1871-1913 as solici- 

 tor for the institution, and as honorary solicitor till his death. 



Service on the board of a public institution was never a per- 

 functory performance with him. It may be said of him that he 

 never accepted a public position without taking upon himself in a 



