Charles Rotkin, 88, Won Renown as Photographer

Charles E. Rotkin, an award-winning photographer for Time, Life, Fortune, Newsweek and numerous other publications, whose career spanned more than 50 years and whose work has been displayed at the Museum of Modern Art, died Wednesday, August 11, in Scarborough, N.Y., following coronary failure. He was 88. For many years, beginning in 1951, Mr. Rotkin summered at the Menemsha Inn.

A New York city native, Mr. Rotkin was part of a circle of notable photographers who helped define the field of photojournalism. Among them were Gordon Parks, Jack Delano and Mr. Rotkon's close friend, Robert Capa. Mr. Rotkin was honored early in his career, in 1939, when Edward Steichen selected one of his photographs for the now legendary Family of Man exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. A photographer of a caretaker assisting a bedridden woman and her baby while the mother's children looked on is held in the MOMA archives.

In the early 1940s, Mr. Rotkin was selected to become one of several prominent photographers in a team assembled by Roy Stryker of the Farm Security Administration. But he was drafted into the Army before he could join that group. After World War II, he became a magazine photographer, contributing to Time, Life, Fortune, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and other publications. For three years he was chief photographer for the government of Puerto Rico.

He gained particular renown for his work as an aerial photographer for such industrial concerns as Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey. He was the author of numerous photographic books, including Puerto Rico: Caribbean Crossroads (University of Puerto Rico, 1947), Europe: An Aerial Closeup (Lipincott, 1962), and USA: An Aerial Closeup (Crown, 1968).

Mr. Rotkin was the recipient of numerous awards for both his editorial and commercial work, including five in advertising photography from the New York Art Directors Club, a Gold Medal from the Washington Art Directors Club, and, in 1970, a First Prize for Photographic Book award from the Society of American Travel Writers.

Twice, he was selected as president of the American Society of Media Photographer, and he was a consultant to the Library of Congress on copyright law. He was active with numerous photographic and journalistic organizations, including the Overseas Press Club.

He also taught at the New School and at the International Center for Photography. In later years, he authored The Professional Photographer's Survival Guide, which went into six printings, and Microsoft's Corbus project purchased his body of work and placed it on CD-Rom. At the time of his death he was completing his memoirs.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.