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→Early life
== Early life ==
Eugene Rose was born on August 13, 1934, in San Diego, California. His father was Frank Rose, a World War I veteran. Eugene's mother Esther Rose being a businesswoman was also a California artist who specialized in impressionist renderings of Pacific coast scenes. Raised in San Diego, Eugene would remain a Californian for the rest of his life. His older sister was Eileen Rose Busby, an author, MENSA member, and antiques expert; his older brother was Frank Rose, a local businessman. Rose was also an uncle of scientist and author J. Michael Scott, true crime author and journalist Cathy Scott, and Cordelia Mendoza, antiques expert and author.
Rose was baptized in the Methodist faith at fourteen years old, but later became an atheist, losing all belief in God. After graduating from San Diego High School, Eugene attended Pomona College, where he studied Chinese philosophy and graduated ''magna cum laude'' in 1956. While at Pomona, Rose was a reader for Ved Mehta, a blind student who would go on to become a well known author. Mehta referred to Rose in two books, one of which was ''Stolen Light'', a book of memoirs: “I felt very lucky to have found Gene as a reader. ... He read with such clarity that I almost had the illusion that he was explaining things.” Afterward, Rose studied under Alan Watts at the American Academy of Asian Studies before entering the master's degree program in Oriental languages at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated in 1961 with a thesis entitled '''Emptiness' and 'Fullness' in the Lao Tzu''.
