Obituary of Gerald Cohen

Dr. Gerald Cohen, 83, of Pocono Summit, died peacefully on Thursday, July 10, 2014 at the VNA Hospice House of Monroe County in East Stroudsburg. Born May 29, 1931 in The Bronx, he was the son of the late Abraham and Lillian (Rubel) Cohen. While attending Brooklyn College for his B.A. degree, already publishing poetry and appearing on the stage, where he studied and performed with such personalities as Robert Joffrey, Jose Limon, Ruth St. Denis, Alwin Nikolais, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in Comparative Literature in English and French from the University of Washington in Seattle, where he was awarded a teaching fellowship with Theodore Roethke, he wrote and taught in the Pacific Northwest and California. He taught at the University of Washington, Whitman College, Western Washington State College, Fairleigh Dickinson University. At the City University of New York, he was department chairman and was tenured Associated Professor of English at the Manhattan College. In 1968 he received a City of New York University Grant for a forthcoming book on the Renaissance. In 1969 he won the Poetry Parade Award and the Hart Crane Award. Dr. Cohen lectured and gave readings in this country and Canada; has appeared on television; has conducted workshops; for students; has written plays and musicals which have been performed on campuses; has published stories and segments of a novel; and founded a literary magazine. When not teaching in New York he enjoyed spending his time in the Pocono Mountains, skiing, skating hiking, sailing and canoeing, and writing poetry and prose about art and Pennsylvania rural primitive antiques. He was a former president of the Pacific Chapter of the scholarly Renaissance Society of America, where he had given numerous papers. He is survived by his cousin Michael Rubel and his wife, Joyce and family of Orange County, CA. and his very dear friends, Marie Devito, Cindie Gregor, Adam Reznik and Steve Gottfried as well as many valued friends and colleagues. There will be a visitation from 2 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 20, 2014 at Bolock Funeral Home, 6148 Paradise Valley Road, Cresco. Services will begin at 3 p.m. at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065 or the Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center, 181 East Brown Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18302.