Carl O.E. Bosenberg, 96, died Dec. 6 at the Francis E. Parker Memorial Home, Piscataway.
Born Sept. 29, 1919, in Jugenheim, Germany, he came to the United States with his parents, Henry F. and Martha Bosenberg, settling in North Brunswick in 1924.
He began working as a young boy with his father in the family business, Henry F. Bosenberg and Son Inc. in North Brunswick. In 1931, they developed the first ever-blooming climbing rose, the New Dawn, for which they were awarded United States plant patent number one.
Carl was a 1938 graduate of New Brunswick High School and a 1942 graduate of Rutgers University’s College of Agriculture. While at Rutgers, he wrestled, played on the 150-pound football team and was in the ROTC.
After graduation, he went to the Coast Guard Academy, New London, Connecticut. He served in the South Pacific during World War II aboard LST 24. He returned stateside in 1944 and served as the commanding officer of the station in Pascagoula, Mississippi. While there, he met Mildred N. Bundy, and they were married in 1945.
He remained in the Coast Guard for many years, retiring with the rank of Commander. After the war, Carl and Mildred returned to North Brunswick where they raised their family and lived for the remainder of their lives. Upon his return to North Brunswick, he continued to work with this father, taking over the business in 1962. They did residential landscaping and tree work, as well as commercial work for Rutgers University, Johnson & Johnson, and several area municipalities for many years.
During the 1950s, he served on the North Brunswick Board of Education.
His wife, Mildred, died in 2002.
Surviving are a son, Robert Bosenberg, and his wife, Kim, of Lacombe, Louisiana; a daughter, Martha Decker, and her husband, Dennis, of North Brunswick; four grandchildren, Matthew Decker, Scott Decker, Kate Louise (Decker) Corriero and Brett Bosenberg; and three great-grandchildren, Luke Decker, Lucy Decker and Finn Corriero.
A memorial service was held at Kirkpatrick Chapel, New Brunswick, and burial took place at Van Liew Cemetery, New Brunswick.
Funeral arrangements were made by Quackenboss Funeral Home, 156 Livingston, Ave., New Brunswick.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, 1005 N. Glebe Road, Suite 220, Arlington, Virginia, 22201, (online at www.cgmahq.org), or to Fisher House Foundation, which provides homes for military personnel and veterans while they receive medical care, at P.O. Box 97229, Washington, DC, 20077- 7804, (online at www.fisherhouse.org.)