Barbara Janson Cohen

1935 - 2021

Cohen Barbara Janson Passed at her home in Broomall with her family at her side on July 7, 2021. She leaves behind Matthew, her devoted husband of 66 years and loving children Jocelyn (John) and Saul, granddaughters Lindsay and Elena and great granddaughter Harlee. She was born October 10, 1935 in Philadelphia and grew up at 23rd and Columbia Avenue above her parents' pharmacy and luncheonette before the family moved to Mt. Airy in her teens. After graduating from Girls High ('53), she attended the University of Pennsylvania ('57), graduating with a degree in microbiology. Childhood summers were spent in a tiny bungalow in the small Barnegat Bay town of Ocean Gate, NJ and then in a house with her own family until 2008. Right out of college, she worked for four years at the Wistar Institute with the team that was working on a polio vaccine. It was a particularly special period of her life. She later received her Masters of Education from West Chester University and went on to teach at Delaware County Community College for over 35 years. An opera and classical music lover, she took up the flute in her thirties and then played in the Delaware County Symphony for over 40 years. In her fifties she began to edit and then write textbooks, a lifelong dream. She had two very successful books, still in print, on human anatomy and medical terminology. Not just cultured, smart and hardworking, she was witty, loads of fun and beautiful, adventurous and athletic. She played squash into her 80's, loved to swim and sail and practiced yoga for decades. She went to the gym less than a week before passing, despite feeling the effects of the cancer she had endured for close to 3 years. She could cook and sew and loved to entertain. She was an avid reader and loved the movies. She recycled way before curbside pick-up and knew long ago that margarine could not possibly be good for you. She liked to shop and always looked great—but wasn't above wearing (and rocking!) a thrift shop dress to a nephew's wedding in her mid-70s. She read Vogue and Scientific American. An avid Eagles and Phillies fan—she watched and rooted through her last days. She was an incredibly dear, supportive friend and colleague to so many and a loving and loved daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother and great grandmother. And, above all, a wife and mother who could not have been more cherished by her husband and children, nor more missed. There will be a celebration of her life in the Fall. Donations in her memory can be made to The Wistar Institute. www.levinefuneral.com