Henry Rosso Jr. was a generous man with a dry sense of humor and a love for his family, friends, and town. As the colorful owner of Rosso’s Café on Spring Street in Princeton for forty-eight years, he was both connected to, and a part of, the cast of characters that was twentieth-century Princeton.
When it was time to create an estate plan, Henry knew he wanted to give back to the community that had afforded him so many opportunities to enjoy his passion for life. He was unsure of the details needed to include charity in his estate plan, so he asked his attorney for options. Knowing Henry well, his attorney suggested that he talk to the Princeton Area Community Foundation.
Working with bequest language provided by the experts there, Henry Rosso chose to name the Community Foundation as a charitable beneficiary to his estate. Through this bequest, Henry asked the Community Foundation to create a charitable fund that honored his love of travel, sports, children, and the Princeton community. The process was simple.
And Henry had a further wish. He wanted to give the gift of philanthropy to his family. He asked that his cousins, Shawn and Robbi Ellsworth of Princeton, be able to make grant recommendations from the fund during their lifetimes. He then named their children, John and Alysa, as the next generation of advisors to the family fund.
When Henry Rosso died in 2003 at the age of 82, the Rosso–Maguire Fund at the Community Foundation was born. And even after his cousin’s children have discovered the many joys of philanthropy through the fund he created, his original gift will continue supporting things he cared about and endure as a lasting legacy to the man with a quick smile and generous heart.
