Tom B. Rosenberg (1947/1948) is an American film producer, co-founder of Beacon Pictures; and founder and chairman of Lakeshore Entertainment.[2] He is a recipient of the 2004 Academy Award for Best Picture for the film Million Dollar Baby.[3]
Rosenberg grew up on the North Side of Chicago.[1] His father was an alderman of the 44th ward and later served as a Cook County judge.[1] His mother worked in a dress shop and died when Rosenberg was 15.[1] He had one sister who was 15 years his senior.[1] He graduated from Lake View High School and then graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.[1] He then went on to teach at public schools in Chicago and then move to California where he went to the University of California at Berkeley Law School.[1] He then moved to Willow Springs, Missouri where he worked as a lawyer, sold real estate, and helped to build subsidized housing for the elderly.[1] After five years and newly divorced, he moved back to Chicago founded Capital Associates in 1977 with a partner.[1] They built their first development in Decatur, Illinois.[1] Rosenberg went on to build 54 buildings in Illinois, oversaw the largest school construction program in Chicago, and was active in fundraising for mayors Jane Byrne and Richard M. Daley.[1] In 1984, he ran the Midwestern campaign for presidential candidate Walter Mondale.[1] In 1989, he started a film company, Beacon Pictures, with his friend Armyan Bernstein; and their first film was released in 1991, The Commitments, directed by Alan Parker.[1]
In 2004, he sold his real estate assets.[1]
He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.
Next came a plot turn that, though not as dramatic as the dark twist of "Million Dollar Baby," still isn't what you'd expect of a Jewish guy who finished Berkeley in the early 1970s.