{"id":177013,"date":"2026-03-27T11:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/177013\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T11:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:55:10","slug":"he-scaled-bridges-paddled-manhattan-and-loved-morristown-michael-rockland-dies-at-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/177013\/","title":{"rendered":"He scaled bridges, paddled Manhattan \u2014 and loved Morristown: Michael Rockland dies at 90"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Michael Rockland high atop the George Washington Bridge. Photo courtesy of the author.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Aaron Rockland,\u00a0who died Sunday at 90, will be missed in Morristown \u2014 but not mourned.<\/p>\n

Author, veteran, foreign diplomat, emeritus professor, urban adventurer, unabashed cheerleader for all things Jersey, community volunteer, great grandfather\u00a0 \u2014 his nine decades were crammed with enough life for several obituaries.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Morristown author Michael Aaron Rockland poses a question at the 2022 Morristown Festival of Books. Photo by Kevin Coughlin<\/p>\n

You might have to go back to Ben Franklin to find a guy with such persistent curiosity and joie de vivre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think of him as a Renaissance man; he never lost his excitement about learning something new,\u201d said his former Rutgers colleague, Louis Masur, Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History.<\/p>\n

No, mourning won\u2019t do. Michael Rockland should be celebrated.<\/p>\n

How many people do you know who scaled the George Washington Bridge, on a cable swaying 600 feet above the Hudson? Or circumnavigated Manhattan in a canoe? Or bicycled Route One?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Michael Rockland in his study in Morristown, September 2024. Photo by Michael Lovito.
\n\"'Navy<\/a>\u2018Navy Crazy,\u2019 by Michael Aaron Rockland.<\/p>\n

He was on a first-name basis with Martin Luther King. Meryl Streep \u201cdied\u201d in his Morristown living room. He survived being throttled by a troubled Marine in Japan, where he almost got tossed from the roof of a military psych ward as a young medical corpsman. (Grist for Navy Crazy, one of his 16 books.)<\/p>\n

Then there were the four hydrogen bombs the U.S. Air Force accidentally dropped on Spain, where he was a cultural attach\u00e9 in 1966.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m there trying to get everyone to read\u00a0Huckleberry Finn\u2026and we\u2019ve dropped H-bombs on them!\u201d Rockland once recounted to Morristown Green, with a husky laugh.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>Michael Rockland\u2019 son Jeffrey appeared in the 1965 film Dr. Zhivago. Photo via IMDB.com<\/p>\n

He could laugh because the bombs never detonated. You can read about that \u2014 and Rockland\u2019s day as Madrid tour guide for a jet-lagged MLK (\u201cI was greeted by the greatest American of the 20th Century in his white boxer shorts\u201d), and about his then-4-year-old son getting cast as Sasha in Dr. Zhivago\u00a0 \u2014 in An American Diplomat in Franco Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just incredibly curious about people and about life,\u201d said Rockland\u2019s wife, Patricia Ard.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trait that served him well over a half-century at Rutgers. He created the American Studies department and taught a popular course called Jerseyana.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many professors never had any life experiences,\u201d Rockland said when asked about his classroom appeal. \u201cThey\u2019ve been in school since kindergarten.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018URBAN ADVENTURES\u2019<\/p>\n

Michael Aaron Rockland was born in 1935 in the Bronx, NY. His father was an accountant, his mother a nurse and homemaker. He went to Lehman College, and later earned a doctorate in American studies at the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

He served in Japan with the Navy, and in Argentina and Spain during six years with the State Department.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Author Michael Aaron Rockland in 2024, with his 1992 New Jersey Monthly profile of controversial homeless man Richard Kreimer. Photo by Kevin Coughlin<\/p>\n

But it was New Jersey that captivated him like no other place. From the 1970s to the end of his life he was a contributor to New Jersey Monthly. He co-starred in a PBS film, Three Days on Big City Waters,\u00a0about a Labor Day Weekend canoe expedition from Princeton to New York City.<\/p>\n

The story was drawn from his book Snowshoeing Through Sewers, Adventures in New York City, New Jersey and Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe called them urban adventures,\u201d said his wife Patricia. \u201cThoreau\u2019s whole idea was that you have to go to the woods to appreciate nature. But he felt that there was just these interesting things around urban areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comparisons to Forrest Gump are inevitable. Rockland was not quite as fearless.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Revised and expanded version of Michael Rockland\u2019s \u2018The George Washington Bridge, Poetry in Steel.\u2019 Photo by Michael Lovito<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing up the cable of the George Washington Bridge, he definitely was frightened,\u201d his wife said.<\/p>\n

It was a colossal misunderstanding. Rockland was writing a book about the iconic span.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he said he wanted to go up to the top of the bridge, he meant in a little elevator. He didn\u2019t think they\u2019d have a whole group taking him up the cable. And he just felt like he couldn\u2019t back out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor would he back down as a staunch defender of the Garden State.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019re the toll booth capital of the world. So what?\u201d Rockland told CBS Sunday Morning.<\/p>\n

Video: Michael Rockland on CBS Sunday Morning, 2011:<\/p>\n

Co-writing a book about the Turnpike, he came to appreciate the highway\u2019s \u201cexercise in ugliness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBruce Springsteen and The Sopranos are the two greatest things in modern times that New Jersey has produced. Are they pretty? No,\u201d Rockland told Morristown Green in 2024. \u201cBruce isn\u2019t trying to be pretty. He\u2019s telling the truth. That\u2019s why we love him so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

A NOVEL CURE FOR WRITER\u2019S BLOCK<\/p>\n

Angus Gillespie collaborated with Rockland on Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike. Rockland hired Gillespie at Rutgers when no other university would. Gillespie had not yet completed his doctorate. And there was another catch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u2018Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike,\u2019 by Angus Gillespie and Michael Rockland<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I have been teaching high school, not college, for the past eight years,\u201d Gillespie told him during the job interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell then, you must be a pretty good teacher, or you would not have lasted that long,\u201d Gillespie remembers Rockland responding. Rockland added that he, too, had earned his PhD while holding down a job.<\/p>\n

Working on the book, Gillespie fell behind. Rockland patiently asked about his friend\u2019s writing habits, and quickly diagnosed the problem as perfectionism.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngus, you don\u2019t know everything about the Turnpike. I don\u2019t know everything about the Turnpike. Just tell them what you do know,\u201d Rockland counseled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Author Michael Aaron Rockland speaks at the Morristown & Township Library, June 6, 2024. Photo by Marion Filler<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a real turning point for me,\u201d Gillespie said. \u201cI realized that my perfectionism was the cause of my procrastination. Michael\u2019s advice has served me well over the years.\u00a0\u00a0I became much more productive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their book was cited by the New Jersey State Library as one of the 10 best about the state.<\/p>\n

Rockland developed his own peculiar cure for writer\u2019s block: Juggling two book or magazine projects at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can look at it and say it\u2019s nuts, and it is technically nuts,\u201d he once explained, \u201cbut it gets me to relax and gets my imagination flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rockland adhered to that regimen into his 88th year, when he updated the Turnpike and G.W. Bridge books and published his 16th title, the delightfully quirky Life on the Delaware: The Other Jersey Shore. (He dismissed retirement as \u201csuicide.\u201d)<\/p>\n

The author promoted the books at well attended talks in the Morristown & Township Library, repository of his papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe provided an added spark to our library just by coming in, and raised our institution to another level simply by being present,\u201d said library Director Chad Leinaweaver. \u201cMorristown has lost a gem and a good friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Morristown<\/a>Morristown resident Michael Aaron Rockland, author of \u2018Navy Crazy,\u2019 outside the Morristown & Township Library, where he spoke at the first Morristown Festival of Books in 2014. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
\n\u2018DON\u2019T GIVE UP\u2019<\/p>\n

Rockland was a familiar sight around his Historic District neighborhood, too, often pausing to chat while walking his dog George, Mayor Tim Dougherty, his neighbor, fondly recalled.<\/p>\n

In summer, Rockland padded barefoot to the nearby Kellogg Club pool, for half-hour swims his doctor prescribed for back pain.<\/p>\n

\"Renee<\/a>Renee Zellweger and Meryl Streep in Michael Rockland\u2019s kitchen, which was rebuilt for the 1998 movie \u2018One True Thing,\u2019 and then restored to its original condition. Photo via IMDB.com<\/p>\n

Sometimes he joked about rescuing the club from financial ruin. While he and his family vacated their house for months during filming of the 1998 drama One True Thing (yes, Meryl Streep\u2019s character expired in the living room), the production company paid to dine at the Kellogg Club.<\/p>\n

In between books, Rockland was an avid gardener. A founding member of the Morristown Shade Tree Commission, he pitched in at many plantings and for one Arbor Day even sang Joyce Kilmer\u2019s Trees, before finally hanging up his spade last year, said commission Chair Kristin Ace.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Michael Rockland, left, at Arbor Day 2018. Photo courtesy of Kristin Ace<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael had a verve for life. He loved hiking. He loved his children. He loved his wife Patricia\u2026He just lived his life and didn\u2019t slow down. How beautiful is that!\u201d Ace said. \u201cWhat an incredibly lived, beautiful life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rockland was talking about his first novel, the critically acclaimed A Bliss Case, but could have been describing his irrepressible spirit when he recounted landing a publisher after 27 rejections.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like being at the high school dance, and 27 girls tell you, \u2018Get lost, loser!\u2019\u00a0 And suddenly, the prettiest, nicest, smartest girl of all comes to you and tells you she\u2019s secretly in love with you, and asks, \u2018Would you dance with me?\u2019\u201d Rockland said.<\/p>\n

Put simply:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is something you really want to do, do it. Don\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Rockland is survived by his wife, Patricia Ard; children\u00a0David Rockland of Maryland, Jeffrey Rockland of Ohio, Keren McGinity of Massachusetts, Kate Gillan in Madison, and Joshua Rockland of Morris Township; 13 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. A memorial may be held at a future date.<\/p>\n


\n Morristown has a long history of people stepping forward in pivotal moments. \n <\/p>\n


\n When you chip in to Morristown Green, you\u2019re helping your neighbors stay informed, strengthening our civic backbone,
\n and carrying on the spirit that\u2019s defined this town since its earliest days. \n <\/p>\n


\n Rally for local news. \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Rockland high atop the George Washington Bridge. Photo courtesy of the author. \u00a0 Michael Aaron Rockland,\u00a0who died…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,71756,64193,71757,9,24,63,7666,1115],"class_list":["post-177013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-michael-aaron-rockland","tag-morristown","tag-morristown-and-morris-township-library","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-obituary","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}