Rosen, Hy

Cartoonist for the Albany Times Union.

Hy Rosen (1923-2011) was an American editorial cartoonist and sculptor.

Born on February 10, 1923 to Russian immigrants, Hyman Joseph Rosen was an Albany native who studied at the Art Students League in New York City as well as the Chicago Art Institute. In 1945, after service in World War II, Mr. Rosen sought a job with the Albany Times-Union as a photographer (a job he held while in the military) but ended up as the paper's editorial cartoonist, a position he held for more than forty years. During his tenure at the Times Union Rosen fought for cartoonists to have increased creative control over their work. Some of his cartoons appeared under the title "As Hy Rosen Sees It" and these cartoons were syndicated nationally. Rosen retired from the Times Union in 1989 and during the early 1990s his cartoons continued to occasionally appear on Sundays. During this time he also drew a weekly cartoon for the Albany news for WNYT.

He won many awards for his cartooning work, including the Fourth Estate Award from the American Legion in 1980 and three awards from the Freedoms Foundation. In 1966 Rosen was a journalism fellow at Stanford. Two compilations of Rosen cartoons have been published: As Hy Rosen saw it : a collection of penetrating cartoon commentaries as they appeared in the Times Union (1970) and Do they tell you what to draw? : a decade of political cartoons (1980). They have also been included in Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year and From Rocky to Pataki : character and caricatures in New York politics (1998). Rosen was a member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) since its founding in 1957 and served as its president in 1972.

In addition to cartooning, Rosen was an accomplished sculptor working in ceramic and bronze. From 1968 to 1970, Rosen studied sculpture at the State University of New York-Albany. The New York State Police Academy and the New York State Museum are among the organizations that have commissioned works by Rosen and his women veterans memorial can be seen at the Empire State Legislative Plaza in Albany.

Hy Rosen died in February 2011.