Pitt Law School names new public service award for late GOP activist J. Evans Rose

The University of Pittsburgh Law School announced Monday that it will name a new award after J. Evans Rose, the late Pittsburgh lawyer and political activist who mentored two generations of Pennsylvania GOP leaders.

Pitt officials said the university and its Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy established the J. Evans Rose Prize for Public Service.

“(He) believed that everyone should play an active part in the political system, and his lifetime of service as political adviser was legendary,” Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said.

Thornburgh, the former two-term governor and U.S. attorney general, said Rose was among the most admired political figures in Pennsylvania.

Rose, who died July 20, was managing partner and chair of the Rose, Schmidt, Hasley and Disalle law firm for three decades. He was a director and member of the executive committee of the Pittsburgh firm Cohen and Grigsby.

The winner of the Rose Prize receives $4,000.