Robert Granville, 89; Headed FBI Team in Rosenberg Arrests

Robert Granville, 89, the FBI agent who headed the team that arrested Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage, died of complications from a stroke April 12 in Tampa, Fla.

Granville began working for the FBI in 1940 and was promoted to field supervisor of Soviet espionage in 1946. On July 17, 1950, Granville and other agents arrested Julius Rosenberg in his apartment in New York City’s Lower East Side. Three weeks later, they arrested Rosenberg’s wife, Ethel, as she left a federal courthouse after testifying before a grand jury.

The couple were convicted of espionage and executed in June 1953. It was the first execution of civilians for spying in U.S. history.

Granville was also involved in the Cold War case of Justice Department analyst Judith Coplon, who was accused of passing secrets to the Soviets through her lover. Although Coplon was found guilty in two trials, her conviction was overturned because Granville had arrested her without a search warrant and the FBI had used illegal wiretaps during surveillance.

Born in Wallace, Idaho, Granville earned his bachelor’s degree and law degree at the University of Idaho. He left the FBI in 1952 when he was chosen by President Truman to head a panel on equal employment opportunities.