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Few journalists are as closely linked with the institution they worked for as was Abe Rosenthal and The New York Times. He spent 55 years - as a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent, editor and, finally, as an op-ed columnist - at the paper to which he was devoted, and left an indelible imprint.
Indeed, it can justly be said that in his 17 years as the paper's top editor, Rosenthal - who died yesterday at 84 - shaped the Times as few people before and since. And he did so during one of the most tumultuous eras in history.
Born in Canada, Rosenthal came to New York with his family as a small boy. He was a product of the city's schools - DeWitt Clinton HS and CCNY, where he became a campus correspondent for the Times, finally joining its reporting staff.
As a reporter, he was known for his graceful writing and his fearlessness. He won his Pulitzer after the communist Polish government expelled him for "probing into internal affairs."
As editor, he presided over the expansion of the paper and the introduction of its daily sections. But his real legacy was the decisions he made, for better or worse, to pursue some of the most momentous stories in journalism history - including the decision to publish the Pentagon papers.
Still, at the time he finally packed his bags at the Times in 1999, he said his proudest accomplishment was in keeping "the paper straight" - devoid of attempts to politicize its news pages to reflect an ideological agenda (see above).
Not everyone would agree that he was wholly successful. And few people were neutral about Rosenthal, his strong views and his often volcanic personality.
Still, there is no mistaking the record that he created and the printed legacy that he left. Even critics of the Times must acknowledge his commitment, as the paper itself wrote on his retirement, "to journalism as an essential element in a democratic society."
Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
