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Journalists and politicians alike paid tribute to former New York Times editor Abe "A.M." Rosenthal yesterday for being a great reporter, friend and family man.
"Some have suggested that Abe remade the paper in his own fierce, feisty image," Mayor Bloomberg said at Central Synagogue in Midtown. "But actually, I think he made it into a more accurate reflection of the city itself."
Rosenthal died Wednesday at 84 after suffering a stroke. During 55 years at the Times, he was a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent, editor and op-ed columnist.
"He was pretty much the same kind of father as he was a journalist - just as passionate, just as complicated, just as hard to predict," said his son Andrew, the paper's deputy editorial-page editor, as he fought back tears. "The same man who stood up to the Nixon White House loved to hear the stupidest possible jokes repeated over and over again."
Longtime friends Arthur Gelb, William Safire, Barbara Walters and Beverly Sills also eulogized Rosenthal. Former Mayor Ed Koch served as a pallbearer.
Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
