Rosemarie Cherry: Don Cherry's First Wife, Her Age, Death and Legacy

Who was Rosemarie Cherry?

Rosemarie Cherry, known to everyone as Rose, married Don Cherry in 1957 when he was a young defenceman with no guarantee of a paycheque past the season. For the next 16 years he bounced around the minor leagues, and Rose moved the family from town to town with him, through the long bus rides and the short paycheques. She was the constant in a life that was mostly packing boxes.

Don has told the story many times of Rose keeping the house running on very little. When he finally got the Boston Bruins job in 1974, he has always said it was as much her win as his. That is not just a polite thing to say about a first wife. It is the way everyone who knew the family describes those years.

She was not a public figure. She did not give interviews. She did not appear on Hockey Night in Canada. But for four decades she was the person behind the man whose face everyone in Canada knew.

How old was Rosemarie Cherry?

Rosemarie Cherry was about 60 when she died on June 1, 1997. Her exact birth date has never been confirmed in a public record, so a precise age cannot be given. She married Don Cherry in 1957 and was with him for about 40 years before her death.

If you see a specific birth year quoted on another site, treat it with caution. No verified source provides one. The Cherry family has kept that detail private, as it has with many other personal details about Rose.

The timeline

• 1957Marries Don Cherry, early in his playing career.
• 1957 to 1973Moves the family town to town while Don plays about 16 seasons in the minor leagues.
• 1957 to 1960sTheir two children, Cindy and Tim, are born.
• 1974Don becomes head coach of the Boston Bruins. The family settles in Boston.
• 1977 and 1978Don reaches the Stanley Cup Final twice with Boston. Loses to Montreal both times.
• 1979 to 1980Don coaches the Colorado Rockies for one season.
• 1980Don joins Hockey Night in Canada. The family settles in Ontario.
• June 1, 1997Rose dies of liver cancer at about 60.
• 1999Don marries Luba Cherry two years after Rose's death.

Her death in 1997

Rose Cherry died on June 1, 1997, after a battle with liver cancer. She was about 60. Her death came while Don was at the peak of his fame on Hockey Night in Canada, and he has said publicly that the years right after were the lowest of his life.

He kept working. Coach's Corner continued. But the man who talked about soldiers and minor hockey parents and his own dog every Saturday night was not the same for a long time. Don has said he could not watch parts of the CBC film Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story, because the actress playing Rose looked so much like her that it was too painful.

Two years later he married Luba Cherry. That timing has been questioned by some fans, but the family has always been clear that Luba came into Don's life after a period of grief, not during it. Luba has never publicly compared herself to Rose. By every account she has handled being the second wife with grace.

The children's hospice in Milton

Rose's name is most associated with the children's hospice in Milton, Ontario. It is now known as the Darling Home for Kids. The Cherry family has supported it for years, and the association with Rose's name is how many Canadians first hear about it.

The hospice provides care for children with life-limiting illness and support for their families. It serves the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario. It is about a 40 minute drive west of downtown Toronto, in Halton Region.

That is a quieter legacy than a statue or a street sign. It is also the part of the story fans bring up most when Rose's name comes up. For a woman who never wanted the microphone, a hospice carrying her memory is a fitting one.

The Cherry family

Rose and Don had two children together. Both are now part of the public record in their own right, and one of them is no longer living.

The Ontario connection

The Cherry family is tied to three places in Ontario. Kingston is where Don was born in 1934. Boston and Colorado are where he coached. Milton and Mississauga are where Rose's legacy sits today. Milton is home to the children's hospice associated with her name. Mississauga is where Don has lived for decades.

Rose never asked to be associated with any of those places. She married a hockey player and spent the next four decades moving where his career took him. The fact that her name now sits on a hospice in a town she may never have chosen to settle in is a strange but fitting end to the story.

In other people's words

• She was the one who held it together while he was chasing it.

  The Cherry Family Desk, October 2026

• I don't know how a guy can get so fortunate twice in life.

  Don Cherry, reflecting on his two marriages

• The children's hospice in Milton carries her name, and it is how a lot of people first learn who she was.

  The Cherry Family Desk, October 2026

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