Edward J. Cohen

1932 - 2017
Edward J. Cohen of Naples, Florida, formerly of Princeton, New Jersey, passed away on July 6, 2017. He was born in Manhattan on February 27, 1932 to Gertrude (Luchow) Cohen and Joseph Cohen and grew up on the Upper West Side. Mr. Cohen was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, attended Syracuse University School of Forestry and graduated from New York University. He served honorably in the US Army in Korea from 1953 to 1955.

Mr. Cohen married Barbara Joan Sugarman in 1957 at the Plaza Hotel in New York, and they resided in Lawrence, NY before moving to Princeton, NJ in 1972. Mr. Cohen worked as a lumber broker and subsequent partner of Plunkett Webster in New Rochelle, NY until his retirement and sale of the company in 2000 to Parksite (Parksite Plunkett Webster). Mr. Cohen's family had ties to the lumber business dating back to his grandfather, Jacob H. Cohen, a New York industrialist and philanthropist who served as President of the Forest Box and Lumber Company, Inc. in Long Island City from 1905 until his death in 1964.

Mr. Cohen was an intellectual who greatly valued education. He was a voracious reader and had a gift for knowledge which inspired his family and friends throughout his life. He earned a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers University in 1988. In Princeton, Mr. Cohen served on the Princeton Zoning Board and was a member of the Township Planning Committee, among other local pursuits.

His beloved wife, Barbara Sugarman Cohen passed away in 1994. Friends in Princeton introduced him to Barbara Goldberg of West Windsor, NJ, and they married in 1996. In 2000, they relocated to Naples, Florida where Mr. Cohen was active in community organizations including Jewish Federation of Collier County and Temple Shalom.

Survivors include: wife Barbara of Naples, FL, brother Stephen L. Cohen of New York, children Stephanie F. Sampson (Allan) of Pennington, NJ, Andrea C. Bresnick (fiancé Lee Barnes) of Sharon, MA and James H. Cohen (Lisa) of Houston, TX and grandchildren Alexandra Scovel, (fiancé Edward Weaver), David Fippinger, Carolyn Fippinger (fiancé Michael Recchia), Allison Bresnick, Nathaniel Bresnick, Catherine Cohen, Billy Cohen and Charlie Cohen. Other cherished family members include Barbara's children, Deborah Shimer (Sam) FL, Margaret Islin (Graham) London, and Hilary Feldman, deceased, (Michael) FL, and stepsons Steven Goldberg, Sam Goldberg and Jeff Goldberg and their families, including sixteen children located across the US and England.

The family welcomes contributions to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in memory of Edward J. Cohen.