Edward Rosenthal

Rosenthal was born to a Jewish family.[1] He has two siblings: Miriam Rosenthal Passerman and Morton Rosenthal.[1] In 1924, he graduated with a B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.[1] After school he took over his family's funeral home business founded by his grandfather, Louis Meyer, in 1897.[1][2] In 1933, he divided the company into two brands, the Riverside Memorial Chapel and Parkwest Chapels and expanded to Miami, Florida (1935); Brooklyn (1938); the Bronx (1940); and Westchester County, New York (1950).[2] He expanded further via acquisitions acquiring the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel (1948), the Universal Funeral Chapel (1955); and the Walter B. Cooke Chapel (1957) to become the largest funeral company in the United States.[3]

The company diversified after he brought his son in law into the business, Steve Ross (who married his daughter Carol in 1953). They established a separate company that would lease out their vehicles in the evenings when they were not needed for funerals[4] and then opened a rental company, Abbey Rent a Car.[4][5] They later merged the funeral home and Abbey with a parking lot operator, the Kinney Parking Company,[4] which was then owned by underworld crime figures Manny Kimmel and Abner Zwillman; and added an office cleaning business (which was jointly owned by Rosenthal and a cousin). In 1958, Rosenthal ceded control to his son-in-law.[6] The resulting holding company, Kinney Service Corporation, was taken public in 1962 with a market valuation of $12.5 million.[4] Rosenthal served as vice chairman of Kinney National from 1962 until 1966.[1] In 1964, Kinney National purchased wood flooring manufacturer Circle Floor from Seymour and Paul Milstein for $15 million.[7] In 1966, Kinney expanded into the entertainment business by purchasing the Ashley-Famous talent agency and then in 1969, Kinney paid $400 million for the ailing Warner Bros.-Seven Arts film studio and record business.[4] In 1971, the funeral business was purchased by Service Corporation International.[2] A year later, after spinning off its remaining non-entertainment assets, Kinney National Services renamed itself Warner Communications[4] with Rosenthal serving as vice chairman of Warner Communications from 1972 until 1983.[1]

During World War II, he served with the Seabees in Okinawa.[1] Rosenthal was a founder of the Fairview-Greenburgh Day Care and Community Center.[1]

Rosenthal was married to Bea "Doris" Rosenthal; they had four children: Peter Rosenthal; Ellen Rosenthal Sarnoff; Patricia Rosenthal Cantor; and Carol Rosenthal Ross Maslow.[1] His wife died in childbirth with their last child Carol in 1935.[8] He died of leukemia at his home in White Plains, New York.[1]