Atlantic Mourns the Death of Jack Rosenthal, New York Times Editor and Former Atlantic Senior Fellow
Resource type: News
Atlantic mourns the death of Jack Rosenthal, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with The New York Times, and who later served as a Senior Fellow for Atlantic. In addition to his formal roles at Atlantic, Rosenthal is remembered as a mentor and friend.
Over the course of his long and distinguished career, Rosenthal was special assistant to Attorneys General Robert Kennedy and Nicholas Katzenbach, and was the principal editor of the presidential commission report on urban riots in 1968. He joined the Times as a reporter in 1969, rising to editor of the editorial page and the SundayMagazine. He also served as President of The New York Times Company Foundation
At Atlantic, Rosenthal provided counsel to the foundation’s four grantmaking programs. He also advised senior leadership on ways to support journalism programs and initiatives designed to advance the foundation’s mission and program objectives. For example, Rosenthal organized three institutes in 2010 for journalists, held in partnership with the New York Times, relating to timely issues of the news, including aging and education. Commenting on the purpose of the institutes, Rosenthal wrote: “The media world seems to be changing almost daily. But there are some constant factors. No matter whether journalists report online, on the air or in print, they can’t be any better than what they know. Our aim here is to help them become truly expert in their fields.”
Ever the journalist, Rosenthal also contributed to the foundation’s website writing about his 2011 trip to South Africa, where he saw first-hand Atlantic’s efforts to help the country as it emerged from years of apartheid. Below are links to his posts:
For more on Rosenthal, see his obituary in The New York Times here and this remembrance by one of his colleagues.