Jerry Cohen

Mr. Jerry Cohen was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., June 22, 1922, and grew up in Blytheville. His parents, Samuel J. "Jimmy" and Luba Tooter Cohen, both immigrants from Russia, moved to Blytheville from New York City in 1920, where in the early 1930s Jimmy founded the S.J. Cohen Company, a construction company that specialized in building drainage canals, levees, highways, bridges and grading at airports.

Jerry graduated first in his class at Cornell University and received a Bachelor of Civil Engineering with Distinction in the class of 1943. Shortly after his graduation, Jerry and his father both enlisted in the Navy in 1943. His father joined the Navy as an officer in the Seabees, the Navy Civil Engineer Corps, and Jerry served as a Naval Officer.

Jerry worked with his father in the S.J. Cohen Company, and after his father's death, he ran the company until his retirement in 1990. Through his leadership and vision, he helped create a vital infrastructure of dams, roads, bridges and drainage channels for farmland and communities throughout the Delta.

In 1947, Jerry married Huddy Horowitz, the daughter of Morris Horowitz and Lena Freedman Horowitz, of New London, Conn. Jerry and Huddy have two daughters, Jamie Cohen and Marcie Cohen Ferris. Jamie Cohen is a Campaign Manager at the Service Employees International Union, and Marcie Cohen Ferris is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jamie's former husband, John August of Oakland, Calif., has two children, Nick August-Perna of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Lucy August-Perna of San Francisco, Calif. Marcie's husband William Ferris and their daughter, Virginia Louise Ferris, both live in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Jerry and Huddy were active members of Temple Israel and the Jewish community of Blytheville for over 40 years. Jerry served as President of Temple Israel and as President of Arkansas B'nai B'rith. He was also a board member of B'nai B'rith Home for the Aged in Memphis.

Jerry was a Board Member of the Farmers Bank & Trust in Blytheville, Past President of Mississippi Valley Flood Control, a Water Commissioner of Blytheville, a member of the Animal Control Commission of Blytheville, and a member of the Association of General Contractors of America. He received the Contractor of the Year Award from the Army Corps of Engineers, South Atlantic Division, in 1985.

After his retirement in 1990, Jerry and Huddy moved to Memphis and then to Kennebunkport, Maine, where they were actively involved in environmental programs, including the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, Laudholm Farm, the Audubon Society, and Project Puffin. In 2010 they moved to Chapel Hill, N.C. While living in Memphis, Kennebunkport, and Chapel Hill, Jerry worked with the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance each year.

Jerry had a deep commitment to the preservation of natural resources, habitats, and animals of our earth, and he contributed to their protection for future generations.

Jerry was equally committed to education and created a scholarship fund for Blytheville High School graduates to support their college education. His stipulation that the fund be matched was an incentive to grow the Blytheville High School scholarship fund and significantly increased educational resources available to those most in need. He also generously supported Mississippi County Community College in Blytheville.

Reflecting his deep commitment to Jewish history, he funded the Jerry and Huddy Cohen Faculty Excellence Fund at the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies at UNC-CH, and programs at the Institute for Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Miss. Jerry shared and supported Huddy, Jamie, and Marcie's passion for and their lifelong dedication to the advancement of civil rights and women's rights.

The Cohen family deeply appreciate the loving care that UNC Hospice, Hospice nurse Nancy Jo Stotts, and Cedars' homecare professionals lovingly provided Jerry at the end of his life.

The Cohen family is under the care of Howerton & Bryan Funeral Home, Durham, N.C. Online condolences may be submitted at www.howertonbryan.com (select obituaries).