Robert B. Cohen

Early life

Cohen was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, to Isaac and Lillian Goodman Cohen on May 26, 1925. His father had previously run a newspaper delivery route and newsstand in Brooklyn, New York. In the early 1920s, Isaac Cohen founded a newspaper distributor, the Bayonne News Company. Robert Cohen earned his bachelor's degree from New York University (NYU) in 1947. Cohen played on the NYU Violets basketball team in college and his teammates included Dolph Schayes. In 1947, the same year that he earned his bachelor's degree, Cohen married his wife, the former Harriet Brandwein.

Outside of business, Cohen took a keen interest in racehorses. His best known horse, Hudson County, finished second in the Kentucky Derby in 1974, just behind race winner, Cannonade. Cohen had paid $6,700 for Hudson County before the Derby.

Robert Cohen died at the age of 86 at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 1, 2012, of progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurological disorder. He was survived by his wife, Harriet; son, James; six grandchildren; and his sister, Rosalind Stone. He was predeceased by two children, gossip columnist Claudia Cohen and Michael Cohen, who died in 1997. A memorial service was held at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey, where he and his family were longtime residents.