Arthur S. Rosenblatt ’60

Answering the phone, he’d burst into song, an oldie from his glory nights in Triangle, a medley basso profondo from West Side Story. Warm. Whip-smart. Charismatic. He could crack you up with an arched eyebrow or a classic Rosenblatt zinger. Recount the hot new Broadway play you saw last night. “Oh that,” he’d reply dryly, “saw it in London last year.” Zap. 

Arthur, aka Rosey, aka Ross, grew up in Revere, Mass., where his dad owned a fruit market, and whence sprang his lifelong ardor for the Red Sox, Patriots, and the Kennedys. Princeton: hosting WPRB’s Eclipse (“calculated to keep you in the dark”); earning Chapel credits, this nice Jewish boy, by claiming to attend Father Halton’s Masses; and suffering the casual cruelties of bicker before joining Key & Seal. 

Arthur worked in New York advertising in its golden age but preferred getting stoned with pals in the West Village to Mad Men martinis. Also: author of a half-dozen best-selling children’s books, headliner of Cooking with Arthur on NPR. In the early ’80s, he moved to Norfolk, Conn., home of his closest friend and Triangle co-star, Vint Lawrence, and there was elected first selectman (de facto mayor) three times. His last six years he was confined to a nursing home, but bore it with valor, buoyed by old friends who loved him and stayed in close touch. Ever a star, Arthur died Oct. 29, 2022.