Ex-Vermont newsman dead at 75

By Dan Cohen/Patch.com

Ex-Rutland Herald reporter Mike Rosenberg died covering a high-school basketball game in his adopted hometown of Bedford, Massachusetts.

Rosenberg, 75, was working the game for the Bedford Citizen when passed out in a hallway during half-time at Bedford High School.

He died later at Leahy Hospital, in Burlington, Massachusetts.

In past years, Rosenberg served as a Bedford selectman. He was also a member of the school committee.

Even the Bedford Police Department noted Rosenberg's death, in a statement, and passed condolences on to Rosenberg's wife, Dawn, and their two daughters.

Rosenberg was well-known in Bedford. where he had a long association in the town he came to love.

His career as a reporter began in high school when he covered sports for the Herald.

"I had good teachers at the Herald, starting from when I was in high school," he shut in a recent interview.

Rosenberg worked for the Herald part-time through college, at the University of Vermont, covering beats including sports, the legislature and politics. He covered City Hall for the paper in the early 1970s after finishing his schooling at UVM and a stint in the National Guard.

As a UVM undergrad Rosenberg was one of the most popular brothers at Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. His dry sense of humor was always a treat.

Rosenberg had quit smoking in 1970 but then took it up again. "I decided it was too good a habit to give up." he told the brotherhood in one of his classic lines.

Rosenberg previously was freelancer, then editor, at The Bedford Minuteman.

He also worked for the Lexington Minuteman and Lowell Sun, both also in Massachusetts.

Rosenberg wrote a weekly column and covered Bedford football for 30 years. He was the driving force in creating Bedford High’s sports hall of fame.