Arnold S. Rosenfeld

Arnold S. Rosenfeld, retired Cox Newspapers editor-in chief, dies at 72
Journalist told readers about his bout with cancer

By TOM BENNETT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/01/05

Arnold S. Rosenfeld, of Atlanta, 72, retired editor-in-chief of Cox Newspapers and a former editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, died Friday morning.

In 1994, Mr. Rosenfeld told readers of his five-year bout with cancer in a moving series of articles, "A Life with Cancer." From 1988-1993, he had surgeries to remove a cancerous kidney, a lung, a brain tumor, cancers from a leg and his bowel and, finally, part of his remaining kidney.

The joy of his recovery from cancer was tempered with sorrow when his wife, Ruth Rosenfeld, died of cancer in 1996. He wrote an article, "Ruth's Story," in September 1996 about her death.

Funeral arrangements will be announced later Friday by Green Lawn Jewish Funeral Services.

Mr. Rosenfeld came to Atlanta in 1988 as editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Seven months later, in May 1989, he was named editor-in-chief of the newspaper publishing division of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises. The chain includes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and 16 other daily newspapers. He retired in April 2000.

From 1984-88, he was editor of Cox's Austin American-Statesman. Mr. Rosenfeld was editor of the Cox-owned Dayton Daily News and Journal-Herald in 1980-84.

Mr. Rosenfeld was one of the most influential editors in Cox's history. He befriended and trained many Cox newsmen including Jay R. Smith, president of Cox Newspapers Inc.

"Arnold has been a teacher, a confidant, a colleague and a friend. We're lucky to find one person who can be any of those things. Arnold did all four, and so much more for those of us whose lives he touched," said Mr. Smith. As chairman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors' minority affairs committee in 1988, Mr. Rosenfeld issued a scathing, headline-making report showing that U.S. newsrooms were falling far short of goals they had set for hiring minorities. He was a director of ASNE 1985-91 and was treasurer of the ASNE Foundation.

In a 1979 guest article in the Washington Post, he wrote: "Journalism is not life. It is not religion. It is observation and commentary, sometimes skilled. As I get older I have less and less a desire to live life as a journalistic ideologue. I am more interested in doing right than in following the rigid constraints of some journalistic code that shields me from choice. I am interested, at least, in trying."

He was one of the three finalists in the commentary category of the Pulitzer Prizes in 1984 for columns he wrote in the Dayton Daily News. During his career, he reported from China, Cuba and the Middle East. Mr. Rosenfeld won writing awards from the National Mental Health Association and the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors.

Judaism was an important influence in his life. In an interview in Atlanta's Jewish Times, he recalled seeing World War II newsreels of death camps. "I remember vivid images of bodies being bulldozed into open graves; emaciated bodies. It became very clear, even to my 12- or 13-year-old mind, that being Jewish was inescapable and that you had some kind of debt to pay to the history that had produced you."

He served on the boards of The Temple and the Atlanta regional National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Mr. Rosenfeld, a native of New York City, was a student at the University of Houston in 1951. His failure to complete college, he said later, was "something I wouldn't recommend anyone trying. You need a good fundamental education."

He served in the Army 1952-53, including 13 months in Korea, and wrote columns about what he called "the forgotten war."

In September 1999, Mr. Rosenfeld wrote an article for The American Editor looking back over his 46-year career. "So what have I learned? I wasn't as smart as I thought I was," he wrote. "Have a full life that is apart from journalism. Love your family. Learn to be a human being. Be part of the community. . . . Do what's necessary, like standing up for the downtrodden. Don't grandstand about it."

On Dec. 5, 1999, he married the former Rosalin Coletti, a clinical social worker in private practice who worked with Jewish Family Services for 22 years.

Mr. Rosenfeld was a founder and board member of Genesis Shelter for homeless newborn infants. He was on the advisory boards of the Emory University Winship Cancer Center and the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.