Neil Rosen; Theater Producer, TV Writer

Neil Rosen, writer for such popular television series as “Welcome Back, Kotter” and a force in regional theater, has died. He was 61.

Rosen, co-owner and producer of Michigan’s Cherry County Playhouse, died Tuesday of cancer at his home in Muskegon, Mich.

A native of Detroit, Rosen studied communications at Michigan State University and then developed his career as a television writer in Hollywood. He was always intrigued with theater, and worked to adapt several Broadway musicals for television, including “Romance, Romance” in 1993 and “Nunsense” in 1994.

“It’s important for someone to step forward and try to take art forms like musicals and get them recorded so more of us know what that form is,” Rosen told The Times in 1993.

In addition to his work in Michigan, Rosen had continued to write for the Hollywood stage in recent years. “Marvin and Mel,” a story about aging comedy writers that he wrote with George Tricker, was presented two years ago at Actors Alley in North Hollywood.

In the 1970s, Rosen wrote for such network series as “Tony Orlando and Dawn,” the Kotter comedy about a teacher returning to his old high school, “Dinah and Her New Best Friends,” “The Mac Davis Show,” “Sugar Time” and “The Rollergirls.”

In the 1980s, he wrote dialogue for such series as “Me and Maxx,” “Joanie Loves Chachi,” “Under One Roof” and “The Ted Knight Show.” Moving into production, he was executive story consultant for the series “Learning the Ropes” and was supervising producer for a Dick Van Dyke show that had a brief run in 1988.

But Rosen increasingly spent time in his native Michigan. In the early 1970s, he and comedian Pat Paulsen, for whom he wrote tongue-in-cheek presidential campaign speeches, bought the Cherry County Playhouse, a summer theater.

In 1990, Rosen moved the playhouse from Traverse City, Mich., to Muskegon and its historic 1,800-seat Frauenthal Center.

Rosen produced more than 150 plays for the regional theater over the past two decades. With his vast television connections, he attracted nationally known performers to take roles. He also produced and taped several musicals there for telecast on the Arts & Entertainment cable network.

Rosen’s survivors include his wife of 36 years, the former Joni Delevitt, and their three children, Michael, Wendy and Jon.