John M. Rosenberg

John M. Rosenberg was the Director of Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, Inc. (AppalReD), since it first received funding from the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1970. He held the directors position for over twenty-eight years before retiring.

Prior to his career at AppalRed Legal Aid, John served for eight years as a trial attorney and Section Chief in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice from 1962 – 1970, litigating discrimination cases primarily in the deep south. John’s area’s of practice have been primarily those of environmental law, and representation of the elderly. He has authored a number of articles on these matters.

John is the 2026 recipient of the ABA Medal for exceptionally distinguished service. He has also been presented with the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award, the 2013 Difference Makers Award from the American Bar Association, the Kentucky Bar Association Distinguished Lawyer Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Lawyer Magazine.

John is featured in the book This is Home Now: Kentucky’s Holocaust Survivors Speak  by Arwen Donahue, Rebecca Gayle Howell, and Joan Ringelheim. He was also featured in a 1997 story in The New York Times Magazine, “What’s a Nice Jewish Lawyer Like John Rosenberg Doing in Appalachia?”