Abraham Rothberg papers

Abraham A. Rothberg, born on January 14, 1922 in Brooklyn, was a fiction and nonfiction writer, journalist, editor, and teacher. His father, Louis, was a garment worker who emigrated from Russia and died when Rothberg was young; his mother, Lottie, was an Austrian who supported her family through secretarial work. Rothberg began his higher education at Brooklyn College, where he met his future wife, Esther Conwell. Conwell was then in the midst of her undergraduate and graduate education, which lead to a long and distinguished career in both the academic and business worlds of chemistry and physics. After graduating in 1942, Rothberg spent time in the Army Signal Corps. Later on, he attended the University of Iowa and graduated with a Master’s degree in creative writing in 1947. He obtained a Ph.D. in English literature from Columbia in 1952, having written a dissertation, entitled “The House that Jack Built,” that dealt with Jack London’s life and works.

From there, Rothberg went on to work as the editor of Free Europe Press, a division of Radio Free Europe, for the next seven years. Afterwards, he was taken on as a European correspondent for The National Observer. Rothberg served as writer, editor, and editor-in-chief for publishing companies and newspapers both inside and out of the U.S., including The Manchester Guardian, Bantam Books, and Behrman House. He subsequently returned to New York State to teach at Hofstra University, Columbia University, and St. John Fisher College, where he won the Award for Teaching Excellence in 1982. While completely committed to his students, Rothberg continued writing throughout his time as a professor, and even worked on projects after his retirement from teaching. Between 2006 and 2010, Rothberg self-published 12 books, which, combined with the titles already released by publishing houses, form Rothberg’s grand total of 31 published works.

As a child Rothberg was fascinated with history, and his novels, essays, short stories, and history books, with settings ranging from Brooklyn during the Great Depression to the Soviet Union in 1953 to 1960s Eastern Europe, all reflect that unfading passion. In a talk he gave two years before his death, Rothberg said, “By unlocking secrets of the human heart and mind, fiction can allow us to know how people different from ourselves think and feel and live.” With his boundless imagination and varied cast of characters, the author clearly strove to bring truth to this statement for the duration of his writing career. His efforts did not go unnoticed: he won the John H. McGinnis award twice, once for fiction and once for nonfiction, and was also awarded the Rochester Literary Prize.

Rothberg passed away in Rochester on March 28, 2011 at the age of 89 and was survived by his wife, Esther Conwell, his son, Lewis, two grandchildren, and a sister. He was loved and respected by family, friends, students, colleagues, and readers alike. His extensive portfolio of literary, historical, and journalistic writings continue to serve as a rich resource for scholarship and the arts.