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Cohn Inspires JFEW Gift

A quintessential New Yorker and consummate patron of the arts, Alan Cohn had particular passions for jazz—he was a founding trustee of Jazz at Lincoln Center—and education. So after this beloved philanthropist died a year ago, at age 84, an organization with which he’d been active for half a century, the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women, honored his memory by endowing a Juilliard scholarship in his name. Describing Cohn as someone who “just loved life,” JFEW chair Jill W. Smith noted that she and the rest of Cohn’s fellow JFEW trustees “admired him for his intellect, but also because he was so fair and compassionate.” She added that he was not only “generous philanthropically but also in terms of sharing his knowledge.” And also his joy, whether it was about a performance—he and his wife Betsy attended several each week—or his or a friend’s philanthropic endeavors, or his family, or his latest golf game or jazz piano lesson. “He always had a smile and an eternally youthful way about him,” Smith said.

JFEW board and Cohn Jazz Scholarship recipient

The first recipient of the JFEW Alan D. Cohn Jazz Scholarship for female jazz students at Juilliard is third-year trombonist Kalia Vandever, third from right, at the September 29 Artist Diploma Ensemble concert with, from left, Phyllis Korff, Marcy Russo, Betsy Cohn, Jill Smith, and Elizabeth Kraiem.

(Photo by Hiroyuki Ito)
Alan D. Cohn

Alan D. Cohn

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