Michael S. Cohen

1939 - 2026

Michael S. Cohen
1939 - 2026
Longmeadow
Michael S. Cohen, 86, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts and Boca Raton, Florida, passed away peacefully on March 15, 2026, surrounded by beloved family members.
Born in Springfield, MA on July 18, 1939, Michael was the son of the late Aaron and Viola (Roth) Cohen. He grew up in Springfield and graduated from Springfield Classical High School, where he was the President of Mu Sigma fraternity, ran track, swam, and was given the lead role in Classical's production of The Mikado during his senior year. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1961 and later earned an MBA from Babson College.
He served his country as a member of the Army Reserves during the 1960s, rising to the rank of sergeant before his honorable discharge.
He was a long time congregant of Sinai Temple, where he was a member of the brotherhood and the choir for many years. He also served as president of the Mr. and Mrs. Club for the Jewish Home for the Aged.
Michael devoted his professional career to selling life, health and disability insurance products. For many years, he was an agent at his family's firm, SG Simons Insurance, on Main St. in Springfield. Later, he was an independent agent. During that time, although he spent most days working in his home office, he still put on a buttoned down shirt and a tie every morning.
Michael was known and admired for his unfailingly cheerful disposition, and his sweet, easy-going manner. He was friendly and kind to everyone he met, except for his decades-long dissatisfaction with waiters and waitresses to whom he complained that the food was never hot enough. Otherwise, he never complained, even when age and infirmity limited his hearing, eyesight, and mobility. Endowed with a fine tenor voice, he provided his own soundtrack no matter the company, humming or singing a tune nearly at all times. He favored classic showtunes and ditties that he created. One family favorite was "Dirty Phil", a song he made up about a man who lived on top of the garbage hill at the town dump, which he sang whenever he visited the dump (which was one of his favorite things to do). His children and grandchildren cherished the birthday greetings and other songs he routinely left on their voicemails.
Michael eschewed most technology and never used a mobile phone or the Internet (despite hours of tutoring on various devices by his family) but he loved calling his children and grandchildren frequently, and greatly enjoyed telling stories. He had impressive collections of cheap watches and even cheaper, misshapen baseball caps (many celebrating his love for the Boston Red Sox), which he wore proudly. He had a lengthy list of quotable sayings that his children and grandchildren enjoyed and frequently repeated to one another. They are far too numerous to list, but favorites include, "that was a real nice clambake" (an old college fraternity song) and "turn off that idiot box" (when the television had been on too long for his liking).
Michael was a fantastic card player. He scored numerous Bridge Masterpoints and was well on his way to becoming a Life Master when macular degeneration robbed him of sufficient eyesight to continue playing. He inevitably cleaned up at the poker table against his children and their friends after insisting that he would just sit in for a hand or two. Famously, he won a family setback tournament when he could barely see his own cards even with the help of a magnifying lens and would know other players' cards only when they announced which cards they had thrown.
Michael was an avid gardener. His yard was filled with magnificent blooming plants and a collection of small statues, especially "Young Yaz", that he proudly and repeatedly showed off to his uninterested grandchildren. He somehow cheerfully tolerated his sons and their friends trampling his flowers ("like a herd of elephants", as he put it) when they played sports in the yard. He maintained a vegetable garden for over 50 years. For many of those years, he had an ongoing informal contest with his father-in-law to see who could grow the best tomatoes.
He was a lover of food and drink (especially open-faced tuna fish sandwiches with sliced tomatoes from his garden, and ice cream), except for a lifelong aversion to bananas, peas and spicy foods. He disliked dogs but tolerated owning them for 45 years. He had a cartoonish decade-long battle with two of the dogs who refused to be confined in the dog pen that he built.
Most of all, Michael loved his family deeply. He was devoted to his wife of 61 years, Judy (Simons). He doted on her and admired her. Though not himself a big sports fan, he attended many of his children's and grandchildren's sporting events and activities (and coached one son's team to a youth baseball championship and then promptly retired from coaching). He never missed a family meal or a special occasion. He never, ever, bragged, but he was tremendously proud of his wife, his children, their spouses, and his eight grandchildren.
Michael leaves behind a loving family who will forever cherish his memory: his wife, Judy; his son, Andy and his wife Ruth of Glastonbury, CT; his son, Jon and his wife Dorothy of Madison, CT; his son, Dan and his wife Dawn of Simsbury, CT; and his eight grandchildren, Rachel (and her fiancé, Jon), Jenna (and her fiancé, Logan), Sophie, Rebecca, Anna, Kaleb, Jacob and Evelyn. Michael was predeceased by his brother Bernie (who died on exactly the same day 15 years earlier), his sister Sylvia (who died in infancy) and his parents.
The family wishes to thank the many people who provided him with excellent care and companionship over the past few years and particularly Dr. Darren O'Neill.
In lieu of flowers, please direct charitable donations to the Abe and Edna Simons Camp Fund at Sinai Temple or to St. Jude Hospital.
Friends and family are welcome at the funeral service, which will be held at Sinai Temple, 1100 Dickinson Street, Springfield MA on Sunday, March 22 at 3pm. The Cohen family also invites mourners to join them at Sinai for a shiva service at 5pm on Sunday and again at their home in Longmeadow on Monday evening, March 23 at 7pm. For further information or directions, please visit ascherzimmerman.com.