JACOB "JERRY" COHEN

1934 - 2023

COHEN, Jacob "Jerry" Professor and Civil Rights Activist Age 89, beloved husband, father, grandfather, teacher, writer and civil rights activist, died in his home, in Waban, MA, on October 22, 2023. Jerry taught American Studies at Brandeis University for over fifty years. His class on "The Sixties" was cited as the best course in Brandeis University in Lisa Birnbach's College Book, 1984. He is believed to have taught more students than any other professor in the history of the college. Jerry was born on March 22, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Somerville. From his father, a hardware store owner and part-time cantor, he inherited his love of opera and a deep sensitivity to the complexities of Jewish identity in America. After earning a BA at Rutgers and an MA at Yale, he moved to Massachusetts in 1960 to teach history at Brandeis. Between 1964 and 1968, he took a leave of absence to serve on the staff of CORE, working closely with its co-founder, James Farmer, during one of the most turbulent periods of the civil rights era. During this time, he also co-edited a magazine with novelist and cultural critic, Albert Murray. Returning to Brandeis in the late '60s, Jerry joined the American Studies Department, where he continued teaching until his retirement in 2017. In 1968, he spearheaded the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program (TYP), "for students who have demonstrated academic promise...", but may have lacked access to pre-college academic opportunities and resources. He also wrote a faculty report, which prompted the university to divest its holdings in South Africa. Much of Jerry's scholarship focused on the idea of conspiracy in American culture. He wrote prolifically on the Kennedy Assassination, and his critique in Commentary of Oliver Stone's film, JFK, was reprinted in Best American Essays of 1993. A gifted avocational tenor, Jerry sang the Kol Nidrei prayer at Brandeis Yom Kippur services for many years. His marriage to Russian-American pianist, Helena Vesterman, his third wife, opened the door to a flourishing musical life that embraced arias, art songs, spirituals and cantorial prayers. In 1998, Jerry performed in a concert of Russian music at Weill Auditorium in Carnegie Hall, singing, among other things, Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death. He was a man of volatile passions but immense generosity. As one of his sons recalled, "He lived his life as if it were an opera in which he had been assigned the tenor role." When Jerry's health declined, his wife arranged to for him to live at home under the supervision of caregiver, Angela Lukyamuzi, who became his last great friend. Two nights before his death, they could be heard singing spirituals together in the inpatient ward at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Jerry Cohen was buried in the Baker Street Jewish Cemetery in West Roxbury. He is survived by his wife, Helena; his brother, Marshall Cohen; his sons, Joshua, Benjamin and Casey; four stepsons; seventeen grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. A Memorial Service at Brandeis is planned in the spring.

View the online memorial for Jacob "Jerry" COHEN