R.I.P.

Someone who millions of people have seen but not many know much about, Suze Rotolo, has died at age 67. Rotolo was the girl on Bob Dylan’s arm walking in the middle of the snow-filled street on the cover of his 1963 album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”.

A daughter of left wing activist parents, Rotolo's political views were widely regarded as having triggered Dylan's topical songwriting. She is credited with drawing Dylan’s attention to the murder of Emmett Till, resulting in his song “The Death of Emmett Till”. Dylan's interest in painting can also be traced back to his relationship with Rotolo.

When Rotolo left New York in June 1962 to study in Italy, the separation from his girlfriend inspired some of Dylan's early love songs, including "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "Boots of Spanish Leather" and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time". In the song “Don't Think Twice, It's All Right”, he wrote: "I once loved a woman, a child I'm told/I gave her my heart, but she wanted my soul." It is widely believed that she obtained an abortion after she became pregnant by Dylan, who wanted to have a relationship with both her and Joan Baez.

Generally out of the spotlight since the mid-sixties, Rotolo taught art at the Parsons School of Design. She was annoyed by the dismissive account of her relationship with Dylan in “The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia”, written by Michael Gray, and she wrote her own book, “A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties” in 2008.

In 1972, Rotolo married Italian film editor Enzo Bartoccioli whom she met on her trip to Italy in 1962. She is also survived by a son named Luca.