Who

The offspring of one of last century's most famous Times editors, Rosenthal oversees the Times' editorial pages.

Backstory

Andy Rosenthal is the son of Abe Rosenthal, the legendary Times reporter and editor who spent more than 50 years at the newspaper and served as executive editor through much of the 1970s and '80s. Andy was born in New Delhi, where his father was stationed in the mid-1950s, and spent much of the '60s traveling the world with his nomadic parents. Abe returned to the Times' home base in New York at the tail end of the decade and was soon awarded the job of executive editor; Andy started his journalism career a decade later as a reporter at the Associated Press after graduating from the University of Denver.

Andy became a national correspondent and then headed up the AP's Moscow bureau before inevitably signing on, in 1987, with the Times, where he covered the first Persian Gulf War and had a stint in Washington covering the political scene. In 2003, he returned to New York to take up the post of foreign editor. In January of 2007, he was named editorial page editor, succeeding his former boss, Gail Collins.

Of note

The 18-member editorial board of the Times is independent from the rest of the newsgathering operation; Rosenthal reports to publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. rather than executive editor Bill Keller. Under Rosenthal's direction, the editorial board is responsible for crafting the daily three to four byline-free editorials issuing judgments on matters both weighty (Iraq, health care, candidate endorsements) and inane (the weather). Rosenthal also oversees the paper's op-ed pieces and regular columns—written by the likes of Paul Krugman, Nick Kristof, Maureen Dowd, and Gail Collins—as well as the letters section.

Drama

Shortly after assuming the editorial page job, Rosenthal came under fire from staffers for hiring only men for the op-ed board of the International Herald Tribune, the Times' sister publication. It wasn't the first time a Rosenthal has been accused of discrimination—his father Abe was notoriously hostile to gay staffers.

Personal

The bearded, Merrill-wearing Rosenthal—who, much like his dad, has a reputation for being gruff and mercurial—is married to lawyer Mary Beth Bierut, his second wife. They live in Montclair, not far from fellow Timesman David Carr.