Henry Rohland, Washington Post photographer, dies at 102

Gift Article

Henry Rohland, who joined The Washington Post in 1939 and spent much of his 37 years on staff as a photographer and photo assignment editor, died Nov. 15 at a nursing home in Williamsport, Md. He was 102.

The cause was complications from pneumonia, said a grandson, Gary Hobbs.

Henry William Rohland was born in Audubon, N.J., on March 15, 1920, and grew up mostly in Washington. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson (now Jackson-Reed) High School in June 1939 and joined The Post that October as a copy boy. A year later, he transferred to the photo department.

He served in the Marine Corps as a combat photographer in the Pacific during World War II, then returned to the newspaper. In 1952, he received second place for spot news in a White House News Photographers Association contest for a photo of a lumber yard fire in Arlington, Va. In a varied career, he captured political leaders on Capitol Hill as well as everyday Washington-area residents going about their lives.

Mr. Rohland retired in 1976 to St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, thanks to a load of Post stock that he bought as a younger man and that later boomed in value when the company went public in 1971. He returned to the mainland after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 destroyed his home, and he settled in the Williamsport nursing home in 1997 when his wife needed care for Alzheimer’s disease.

He was married to Beverly Gilroy from 1946 until her death in 2002. Their son, William R. Rohland, died in 2013. Survivors include a daughter, JoAnn Hobbs of Gettysburg, Pa.; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.