ROSITZKE, Harry A(ugust) 1911-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born February 25, 1911, in Brooklyn, NY; died of pneumonia November 4, 2002, in Warrenton, VA. Intelligence agent, educator, linguist, farmer, and author. For twenty-five years Rositzke was a Central Intelligence Agency spy in charge of covert operations against the Soviet Union. He was a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he earned his A.B. in 1931, and of Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in Germanic philology in 1935; he also studied phonetics at the University of Hamburg from 1935 to 1936. The first four years of his career were spent teaching English at Harvard University, the University of Omaha, and the University of Rochester. When the United States entered World War II in 1942, Rositzke joined the army and became a major. After the war he was hired by the Office of Strategic Services (the precursor of the C.I.A.) to monitor Soviet intelligence activities. He remained with the C.I.A. until 1970, working in posts in Munich and New Delhi and retiring as chief of the international Communism unit. After he retired, Rositzke spent his time on his cattle farm and wrote books about spy activities between the United States and the Soviets, always maintaining that secret intelligence agents helped to stabilize political relations by providing America with much-needed information. His books on the subject include The CIA's Secret Operations: Espionage, Counterespionage, and Covert Action (1977) and The KGB: The Eyes of Russia (1980). Rositzke was also the author of the novel Left On! (1973) and was an expert on Anglo-Saxon and High German, writing the scholarly work The C-Text of the Old English Chronicles (1940).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

periodicals

Chicago Tribune, November 9, 2002, section 2, p. 11.

Independent (London, England), November 9, 2002, p. 22.

New York Times, November 8, 2002, p. C11.

Washington Post, November 7, 2002, p. B12.