SAINT PAUL, Minn. — "A tireless advocate for the powerless."
That's how the Pioneer Press' Mary Divine described former colleague and columnist Ruben Rosario in Thursday morning's obituary.
"This man, you know, our father, Rubén Rosario really embodied what it is to love what you do," said his daughter, Danielle Rosario. "And if you love what you do, you don't work a day."
Danielle and Jonathan Rosario say their dad's qualities as a tough journalist translated in fatherhood, too.
He got his start in New York City and later moved to Minnesota and Saint Paul's Pioneer Press, covering notorious crime cases.
"He like had that as his bio in the Pioneer Press like that he actually infiltrated a crack den and smoked crack," giggled his son.
And Jonathan isn't lying. His father's bio reads 'from smoking crack in a Harlem drug den to covering mob trials, Rubén Rosario spent 11 years as a writer for the New York Daily News before joining the Pioneer Press in 1991.
Jana spoke to him at the end of his long career when he retired in 2020.
"You listen to their stories and you learn that we are not that much different than each other," he told told her. "Even the best and worst of times."
His colleagues and friends described him as strong-willed but also willing to open up, just like the people who entrusted him with their stories.
In 2013 he titled his column 'Today, I need to tell you about a little boy." He wrote about how he was sexually abused as a child.
"He tried to instill in us those values of being courageous, being resilient, being persistent in whatever you do," said Jonathan. "Acknowledging your roots as someone from a Puerto Rican background, but also fitting that into your career, into who you are as a person."
He balanced those traits beautifully throughout his career, and as a husband, and as a father. He wasn't afraid to be himself.
Because of that strength his legacy lives in his colleagues, friends and family.
"The values he instilled in both of us is to be a good human first, no matter what," said Danielle Rosario.
Rosario also empowered young journalists at the University of St. Thomas through the ThreeSixty Journalism program. He had a love for music he passed on to his kids. His wife of 46 years, Laura, says he was a doting husband whose stories made an impact.