Nathaniel Gerstenzang, New York Times Editor

Nathaniel M. Gerstenzang, 87, a longtime editor on the New YorkTimes' foreign desk who oversaw coverage of major global events, diedFriday in Evanston Hospital.

A Wilmette resident since November, Mr. Gerstenzang spent morethan 30 years with the Times. As assistant foreign editor, hedirected daily coverage of the rebirth of Europe during the post-waryears. During a tour of his paper's European bureaus in 1956, heremained in Vienna to edit his paper's articles on the Hungarianuprising.

He won the George Polk Award for national reporting when hecoordinated coverage of the 1959 visit to the United States by SovietPremier Nikita Khrushchev, who promised that his country would"overtake and outstrip" the West in living standards.

Mr. Gerstenzang later was in charge of reporting on the VietnamWar. On July 19, 1969, he was night news editor when the Apollo 11spacecraft landed on the moon, and he oversaw the edition thatcarried the banner headline "Men Walk on Moon."

In describing his father, Jim Gerstenzang, a reporter with theLos Angeles Times, cited a 1966 speech his father made at ColbyJunior College in New Hampshire: "Quite often the job of reportingnews fully means stepping on the toes of individuals, companies orgovernments. But the problem must be met head on if a newspaper'sintegrity is to be preserved."

As an adjunct journalism professor at Columbia University in the1950s and 1960s, he taught editing to a generation of journalists.

Mr. Gerstenzang retired from the Times in 1969 but remainedactive. For the next several years, he was a copy editor for theWall Street Journal while contributing articles for the Times' NewJersey edition. He worked his way through the New York University law school as asports reporter for the New York Post. During the 1934 baseballseason, he covered the New York Yankees and Giants, and shortly afterthat he joined the Times as a sports copy editor.

In addition to his son, he leaves his wife, Miriam; a daughter,Nina Chaitin; a sister, Elsie Gussow; six grandchildren, and agreat-granddaughter.

Burial was private. Plans for a memorial service are pending.