A.M. Rosenthal, the journalistic giant who helped revive the 'New York Times' in the 1970s has died at the age of 84. Rosenthal suffered a stroke two weeks ago. He died on Wednesday.
Rosenthal spent his entire life working for the 'New York Times,' starting as a campus stringer in 1943. He later worked the police beat, as a foreign correspondent and as managing editor. He served as the paper's executive editor from 1977 until 1986. From 1986 until 1999, he wrote a twice weekly op-ed column for the Times before being let go by publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. Rosenthal claimed he never wanted to leave the paper but Sulzberger told him it was 'time to go.'
In 1960, Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Poland. The country's communist government then asked him to leave the country, saying he was guilty of 'probing too deeply.'
Rosenthal, who was called Abe by his contemporaries, helped revive the Times in the 70s, putting it back on the path to greatness.
It was under Rosenthal's guidance that the 'New York Times' published 'The Pentagon Papers' in 1970 which chronicled the United States' secret involvement in the war in Vietnam and was a milestone decision for freedom of the press.
'Abe was a giant among journalists,' retired Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger said in a statement. 'He was a great editor with extraordinary loyalty to his troops.'
His obituary on the 'New York Times' Web site described Rosenthal as 'brilliant, passionate, abrasive, a man of dark moods and mercurial temperament, he could coolly evaluate world developments one minute and humble a subordinate for an error in the next.'
