Joshua A. Rosenthal - Fiduciary Trust

Truman Scholars - Alumni Bios

JOSHUA (JOSH) A. ROSENTHAL, MPA '81 (deceased)

Senior Vice President, Fiduciary Trust Company International, New York, NY

Josh was selected in 1977 as a Truman Scholar and graduated in 1979 from the University of Michigan. He studied public policy and economics at the Woodrow Wilson School and spent his summer internship at the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, DC. Post-graduation, he became special assistant to the President of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Richard Leone, MPA'65 and PhD '69. Josh worked for Leone for four years including working on the Walter Mondale presidential campaign in 1984.

He then spent nine years with JP Morgan, ending his tenure as vice president of mergers and acquisitions. Next, he joined the development offices of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In 1996, Josh became a portfolio manager at Grantham, Mayo, van Otterloo & Company in Boston. Josh then joined Fiduciary Trust Company International in June 1998 as a senior vice president. Josh Rosenthal died on September 11, 2001 in the attack on the World Trade Center.

Two of Josh's classmates at The Woodrow Wilson School wrote about him and excerpts of their remarks are included here:

"One of the extraordinary things about Josh is how many people would say that he was among the most important people in their lives. But just as extraordinary was how much he meant to people who knew him casually. Once, when I visited him in New York after graduation, I went to work with him at the Mercantile Exchange. From the moment we left the subway, Josh seemed to know every person we met on the way to his office: the news vendor at the corner stand, the security guard, the receptionist, the person pushing the coffee cart. And I don't mean he new their names: I mean he knew them. With each he took a moment to joke and laugh, to ask about their kids, last night's baseball game, how their sore shoulder was doing. And I could see that five minutes - or even two - with Josh was one of the highlights of their day. No matter what mood they had been in moments before, they were of a sudden cheered, comforted …better." - Stephen Rickard, MPA/JD '83

"Josh saw the Wilson School not as just a place, but as a sort of stadium where ideas were tested for practical merit. He was the least ideological person you could find in those days, open to competing points of view, prone to take the other side just to see what it felt like. And yes, he was brilliant, A Truman Scholar who had just finished a stint working for a British Member of Parliament. As a mere summer intern at OMB, Josh's analysis caused the Deputy Secretary of Energy to withdraw significant portions of his testimony on the funding of the Solar Energy Research Institute. But unlike many gifted peers, he never advertised such things." - Thaddeus Huetteman MPA'81