Longtime Brooklyn resident celebrates 100th birthday at the River Cafe
During his 90th birthday party 10 years ago, Ben Rosen’s friend Peter Patterson promised to treat him to dinner at the iconic River Café on the waterfront in DUMBO if he made it to his 100th birthday.
This past Easter Sunday, Patterson kept to his word.
“About five years ago my son asked me, ‘You aren’t really going to make him wait five more years, are you?’” Patterson recalled. “I told him, ‘of course, it will give him something to look forward to.’ Besides, he’s in better health than most of us.”
Rosen was born in Philadelphia, but moved to Brooklyn before he was three years old—which means he’s lived in the borough longer than just about any other resident. He left for a brief period when he joined the Army Air Corps to fight in World War II, but was eventually discharged for medical reasons.