Awful Man, Very Good Father

Once upon a time (to be honest it happens more often) there was a father who was "a crazy person" according to the son he groomed to be just like him. But, somehow the son came out normal (maybe even better than), the opposite of his father — if New York Times reporters who worked under father A.M. Rosenthal and son Andrew are to be believed. Someday quite the book about fatherhood will be written that fills in the details of father Rosenthal, "the ugly genius," and how he was still a great dad, as measured by the result.

** Distressingly, for years he wrote columns entitled "On My Mind." If anything useful was there, it never made it to the page. **