Longtime Pioneer Press editor, columnist Rubén Rosario dies at age 70

Longtime St. Paul Pioneer Press journalist Rubén Rosario, who over the course of more than 2,000 columns directed a spotlight on — in his words — “unheralded ordinary people and issues that deserved more attention,” has died.

The Pioneer Press reported that Rosario, 70, died Wednesday from complications from multiple myeloma.

The Bronx native spent more than a decade as a reporter at the New York Daily News before heading to St. Paul. Over nearly 30 years at the Pioneer Press, he was an editor and then a columnist.

Speaking with MPR News in 2020, after taking a buyout that ended his full-time tenure at the Pioneer Press, Rosario reflected on his approach to column-writing that centered on reporting.

He said he tried to emulate columnists “who maybe had an opinion, but used the human vehicle to express his opinion by telling the stories of others.”

And he expressed appreciation for those who shared their stories — and their pain — with him, in the hope that it could help others.

“Bringing that out in words, as best I could, was my mission, my calling,” Rosario told MPR News host Angela Davis. “I give all the credit to the people who trusted me to tell their story. I’m very humbled and privileged by that.”

Rosario also trusted readers with revelations from his own life — including a 2013 column in which he recounted being sexually abused as a child by an older relative.

He chose to share his story, he wrote, “not so much for me. I’m doing this for the little boys and girls across this state, across this nation, across this world, who are being similarly abused, as I write this, by a loved one or a family friend or a so-called trusted adult.”

And he wrote about his long battle with multiple myeloma, a kind of blood cancer, after initially being diagnosed in 2011. When it returned in 2022, he gave Pioneer Press readers an update on his health, his life, his plans.

“Is this cancer a fight? An ordeal? A challenge? A journey? Yes, even a blessing, given a daily appreciation of little and big things? It’s all that. The apt descriptor depends on the mood and the day,” Rosario wrote.

In addition to the candor and compassion in his work, colleagues also remembered Rosario for his work mentoring young journalists, whether at the Pioneer Press or through the University of St. Thomas’ ThreeSixty Journalism program.

Pioneer Press reporter Frederick Melo, who joined Tom Crann on All Things Considered, to remember his friend and former colleague, described Rosario as “a titan of journalism who is also an every-guy.”

Many of Rosario’s former colleagues also shared remembrances on Facebook:

“Ruben was a delight as a reporter — smart, aggressive, funny and kindhearted. I was his editor when he arrived and started adapting his New York ways to Minnesota,” wrote Kate Parry, now retired. “On one of the first really cold days, I found him at his desk examining a blaze orange knitted hat someone on the staff loaned him. He glanced up with a mournful look on his face and said ‘I have never worn anything like this in my life!’ But he did adapt and Minnesotans loved him for it.”

”Ruben hired me as an intern and started my career here in the Twin Cities and was a longtime mentor,” wrote Nancy Ngo, who is home & garden editor for the Star Tribune. “I still hear his voice in my ear like it was yesterday: show, don’t tell. He did that brilliantly in his writing and how he gave voice to communities.”

Dominic Papatola, who writes theater reviews for the paper, described Rosario this way: ”Ruben was one of the last old-school muckrakers; a larger-than-life guy who pulled no punches, either in person or in print.”

And Deb Mazzocco, who worked as an editor in the metro section, wrote: ”Ruben was a mighty warrior — for truth and justice, for his family and his Puerto Rican heritage, in his fight against an awful disease. RIP, dear man.” 

Rosario is survived by his wife and two children, among other relatives. The Pioneer Press reported that a funeral Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, July 18, at the Cathedral of St. Paul, with visitation starting one hour before.