Barry Rothfeld retired in June 2015 after 11 years as president and publisher of the Poughkeepsie Journal and 42 years with the Gannett Co., Inc. and recently joined the team at Focus Media. He was honored as Gannett’s “Publisher of the Year” in 2009 and is a three-time President’s Ring winner for his work. He was at helm of the Poughkeepsie Journal Media Group during its time of greatest change, overseeing its transformation from a print-centric operation to one that embraced digital media. In other roles with the Gannett Co., he previously served as publisher of The Ithaca Journal, editor of the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, and executive editor of the Poughkeepsie Journal. He also spent 17 years in various reporting and editing roles at Gannett Westchester Rockland Newspapers, now the Journal News, where he started as a reporter and rose to the rank of senior managing editor. Barry believed that the publisher and the newspaper should be good corporate citizens and he practiced what he preached. In retirement, he has remained involved in the community. In addition to his chair position of the United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region, he serves as second vice chair of the Vassar Brothers Medical Center, is on the board of the Half Moon Theatre as well as the Council of Advisors for Pattern for Progress and the Bardavon Theater. He also teaches at Marist College for Lifetime Studies. He was awarded the John Peter Zenger Award in recognition of exemplary service to newspapers and freedom of the press, presented in July 2015 by the New York News Publishers Association. He holds a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and he recently completed two terms on the school’s alumni board. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Queens College where he graduated magna cum laude and was editor-in-chief of its award-winning student newspaper.
