On this day seven years ago, legendary New York Times executive editor Abraham Michael “A.M.” Rosenthal died at the age of 84. Rosenthal was a journalist for the Times for over half a century, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1960 for international reporting. He served as managing editor from 1969-77, executive editor from 1977-88, and was a columnist from1987-99. During his time as editor, Rosenthal oversaw coverage of the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the Pentagon Papers.
His body is interred in Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. The epitaph on his grave reads: “He kept the paper straight.”
The Editors are the staffers of the Columbia Journalism Review.