Jerome Irving Rodale (; né Cohen; August 16, 1898 – June 8, 1971) was a publisher, editor, and author who founded Rodale, Inc. in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and The Rodale Institute, formerly the Soil Health Foundation.

Rodale was an early advocate of sustainable agriculture and organic farming in the United States. As an author, his work included several magazines and books, including books featuring different authors, on the subject of health. He popularized the term "organic" as a term for growing food without pesticides. Rodale also published works on other topics, including The Synonym Finder.

On June 8, 1971, Rodale died after suffering a fatal heart attack while appearing as a guest on a segment, which was never broadcast, of The Dick Cavett Show. Rodale was taken to Roosevelt Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival at age 72.

Early life and education

Rodale was born in Manhattan, New York City, on August 16, 1898, the son of an Orthodox Jewish grocer who immigrated from Poland, He married Anna Andrews in 1927; she died in 2000 at 95. They had three children: Robert Rodale (1930–1990), Nina Rodale, and Ruth Rodale. and invented an exercising device. The Rodale brothers moved Rodale Manufacturing to Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in 1930 to cut costs during the Great Depression. That same year, he founded Rodale Press, which marketed books and magazines.

Inspired by his encounter with the ideas of Albert Howard, Rodale developed an interest in promoting a healthy and active lifestyle that emphasized organically grown foods, and established the Rodale Organic Gardening Experimental Farm in 1940.

In 1942, Rodale Press started publishing Organic Farming and Gardening magazine, which promotes organic horticulture; it was later retitled Organic Gardening. In 1945, he wrote "Pay Dirt", the first American book on organic gardening. To Rodale, agriculture and health were inseparable. He felt that soil required compost and eschewed pesticides and synthetic fertilizers and that plants grown in such soil would help people stay healthier.

One of Rodale's most successful projects was Prevention magazine, founded in 1950, which promotes disease prevention rather than trying to cure it later. Rodale once stated "I'm going to live to be 100, unless I'm run down by some sugar-crazed taxi driver."

Rodale was also a playwright, operating the Cecilwood Theater in Fishkill, New York and the Off-Broadway Rodale Theater at 62 East Fourth Street in the East Village of New York City. His plays included Toinette (1961) and The Hairy Falsetto (1964).

Views

Some medical experts have described Rodale as a promoter of quackery. For example, Rodale accused sugar of "causing criminals," and blamed various diseases, including bronchitis and pneumonia, on the consumption of bread. He also believed that consumers of cola drinks would become sterile. He also made dubious claims about cancer, for instance that "rimless glasses" and "saltwater" could cause cancer. In his book Happy People Rarely Get Cancer (1970), Rodale said, "Negroes get less cancer than whites, for the Negro is a happy race. True, there is their problem of segregation, but the Negro race being what it is, I think a Negro sings just the same, and is not going to let segregation dampen his spirits as much as a similar problem would do to the white person."

Death

On June 8, 1971, Rodale was a guest on an early-evening taping of The Dick Cavett Show in New York City. The episode was slated to air later that evening. During his interview, Rodale said that he had "never felt better in his life!", and made quips like "I'm in such good health that I fell down a long flight of stairs yesterday and I laughed all the way" and "I've decided to live to be a hundred".

After his interview, Rodale remained onstage and was seated on a couch beside the next interviewee, New York Post columnist Pete Hamill. Rodale suddenly made a "snoring sound" and slumped over. The episode was never broadcast, although Cavett described the story in public appearances and on his blog.

Legacy

After Rodale's death, his son Robert Rodale ran the publishing firm until his own death in a car accident in Moscow in 1990.

Rodale's granddaughter Maria Rodale became chairman and CEO of Rodale, Inc. She attributes her interest in the organic food movement to growing up on America's first certified organic farm.

In October 2017, New York City media giant Hearst announced it would acquire the magazine and book businesses of the 90-year-old Rodale Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

Books

  • Pay Dirt: Farming & Gardening with Composts, 1945.
  • The Synonym Finder, 1978.
  • How to Grow Vegetables and Fruits by the Organic Method, 1961.
  • The Word Finder, 1947.
  • The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening.
  • Stone Mulching in the Garden.
  • Vegetables.
  • The Healthy Hunzas, 1948, Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA. 255 p.
  • Are We Really Living Longer?
  • Arthritis, Rheumatism, and Your Aching Back.
  • Cancer, Facts & Fallacies.
  • Happy People Rarely Get Cancer, 1970.
  • The Complete Book of Composting.
  • The Hairy Falsetto: A One-Act Farcical Social Satire.
  • The complete Book of Vitamins, 1966.
  • The natural way to better eyesight 1966.
  • The Prostate 1967, Rodale Books, Inc., Emmaus, PA. D-739; Harald Taub, Designer and Editor; Sowers Printing Co., Lebanon, PA.
  • Sugar: The Curse of Civilization, 1967.
  • Lower your Pulse and Live Longer, 1971.
  • Magnesium, the Nutrient that Could Change Your Life, 1978.

See also

  • Men's Health (magazine)

References

Further reading

  • Jackson, Carlton. J.I. Rodale: Apostle of Nonconformity. (New York: Pyramid Books, 1973). This biography details most of the material in the article above.
  • Perényi, Eleanor. "Apostle of the Compost Heap". Saturday Evening Post, July 16, 1966: 30–33.
  • Organic Gardening magazine website
  • Prevention magazine website