Rosenthal was born on May 2, 1922, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, to a Jewish family. His father, Harry Shipiatsky, was a farmer who immigrated to Canada from Poland in the 1890s and changed his name to Rosenthal. … See more

Rosenthal was a foreign correspondent for The New York Times for much of the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1954, he was assigned to See more

In 1969, Rosenthal became managing editor of The New York Times with overall command of the paper's news operations. During the 1970s, he … See more

Rosenthal had a weekly column at the New York Daily News following his run as a columnist at the Times until 2004. See more

As metropolitan editor of The New York Times, Rosenthal was instrumental in pushing an inaccurate account of the murder of Kitty Genovese on March 13, 1964. Rosenthal heard about the case over lunch with New York City Police Commissioner See more

Rosenthal supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and openly suggested that the United States should give Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya See more

Rosenthal died in Manhattan on May 10, 2006, eight days after his 84th birthday. He is interred in Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. His epitaph inscribed on his grave marker ("He kept the paper straight") was chosen to … See more