Harvey Rosen was the mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of the city of Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 from 2003 to 2010.

Rosen was born in Kingston and obtained a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 from York University

York University

York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....

 in Toronto, and a Bachelor of Law degree from Queen's University

Queen's University

Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

 in Kingston. He was called to the Bar in 1977. Rosen was elected the council for the former Kingston Township in 1994 and in 1997 to the Board of Control of the newly amalgamated City of Kingston. He practiced law until 2000, when he joined the family firm of Rosen Corp. Ltd., a family-owned firm, which at one point included Rosen Fuels, an oil company founded by Rosen's father.

Rosen was elected the 94th Mayor of the City of Kingston on November 10, 2003. Following controversy over a downtown entertainment complex development, he was re-elected for a four-year term on November 13, 2006, by a slim margin of 730 votes, winning over runner-up candidate and councillor Rick Downes

Rick Downes

Rick Downes is current city councillor in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. In 2006 he ran for the office of mayor of Kingston where he was backed by the Kingston & District Labour Council. He came second in the 2006 election losing by a margin of 730 votes to Harvey Rosen...

. He did not seek reelection in 2010.

Rosen is of Jewish background, and was the first Jewish mayor of Kingston. Rosen is also past president of Kingston's Beth Israel Congregation His family were originally from the Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n town of Anyksciai

Anykšciai

Anykščiai is a ski resort town in Lithuania, 20 miles west of Utena. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Matthias in Anykščiai is the tallest church in Lithuania, with spires measuring 79 meters in height.The city has a football club FK Anykščiai.-Name:...

, which was almost wiped out during the Second World War. He has been married twice and has two sons.