Boating Community Mourns The Passing Of Canadian Treasure Rosen – Speed on the Water
Following reports from Ontario Provincial Police confirming one person dead after a marine collision on the St. Lawrence River Saturday morning west of Brockville, Ontario, word traveled from Canada to the U.S. and around the globe that one of the most generous performance boaters around—Canadian Gregg Rosen—was reportedly the deceased person.
The Aqua-Mania G3 Racing team will not be the same without one of its fearless leaders, Gregg Rosen (fifth from left and left in the image below), who died following a boating accident on the St. Lawrence River this morning. Photo by Tim Sharkey/Sharkey Images
Although provincial police had not provided a statement at the time of publishing regarding other casualties or passengers, a woman was reportedly on board Rosen’s 39-foot MTI catamaran and suffered significant injuries, according to on-scene witnesses. The investigation was still on-going as of Saturday evening and authorities had yet to release names or other details, beyond that a second person was sent to the hospital.
Rosen, who owns Kimco Steel Sales, Ltd. in Kingston, Ontario, and is well known in the performance boat community thanks to the Aqua-Mania G3 Racing team he co-owned with Rick Merola of the New York-based full-service marine dealership, was a fun-loving gentleman who attended many poker runs up and down his home waterway as well as around the country. In fact, he was the largest financial supporter of the popular 1,000 Islands Charity Poker Run in Clayton, N.Y., according to one of the event’s organizers, Ken Lalonde.
Lalonde, who said he heard about the accident this morning from a friend who owns a home where the incident took place, couldn’t believe Rosen, who was just 64 years old, was gone.
“Gregg Rosen is an icon around here—I can’t think of a better way to describe him,” Lalonde said. “He had such a soft heart. Every year he donates tons of money to our run—he’s very generous and is one of our biggest promoters. I don’t know if this has even been made public yet, but we just became this year the largest donator to Make-A-Wish here in New York ever with the $205,000 donation we made last week. And I know for a fact that would not be possible without Gregg Rosen.”
Trite as it sounds, Lalonde added that Rosen died doing what he loved.
“Gregg loved to go fast on the water, we all do and we all understand the risks,” Lalonde said.
Mystic Powerboats founder John Cosker, who got to know Rosen and his Aqua-Mania/G3 Racing teammate, Merola, when they were campaigning their turbine-powered 50-foot Mystic cat in the late-2000s, was saddened when he heard the news.
“Gregg was a true gentleman—I honestly have nothing but good things to say about him,” Cosker said. “He’s one of the most easy-going, giving guys I’ve ever met. He will be missed, especially within his community up there.”
Cosker added that he was grateful he got to spend a little time with Rosen at this year’s 1,000 Islands Charity Poker Run in mid-July, and that his thoughts are with his family.
“It’s such shame, Gregg was a great guy,” said MTI founder Randy Scism, who has come to know the Aqua-Mania G3 Racing team as family since it commissioned its turbine-powered canopied 48-foot MTI in 2016 to do poker runs and chase endurance records. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time.”
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