Medical Condition Suspected at First In Journalist's Fall

Rosenbaum, who joined the New York Times in the late 1960s, spent most of his career in the newspaper's Washington bureau. He retired late last month but was to continue contributing to the newspaper. During his career, he covered some of the biggest stories in the country, including the Senate Watergate hearings and the Iran-contra affair.

Family members, neighbors and colleagues were grappling with the sudden death yesterday.

"We can't understand what kind of a person could have done it," said Marcus Rosenbaum, the victim's brother. "What kind of a person could murder somebody for a wallet?"

"It's a really safe neighborhood," said Rosenbaum, who also lives in the area. "I wouldn't think twice about walking around at 2 o'clock in the morning, and this was 9 o'clock at night."

He said the journalist's wife grew alarmed when her husband did not return home from his walk. The family filed a missing person report with police about 11 p.m., the brother said.

Police were setting up a command center at the house when someone recalled that an ambulance had been summoned to Gramercy Street, a block south, Rosenbaum said. Authorities realized quickly that the person transported to Howard University Hospital was David Rosenbaum.

Rosenbaum's neighborhood is one of the safest in the District. The patrol service area, bordered roughly by Western Avenue, Reno Road, Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, did not record a homicide last year, according to police statistics.

Last year, it averaged about two robberies a month, statistics show. The city's 45 patrol service areas each recorded an average of seven robberies a month last year, statistics show.

Police recorded more than 4,000 total robberies.