WILLIAM COHN

COHN--William Morton. March 7, 1933 -- December 28, 2018. My father was a devout follower of the New York Times. The crossword puzzle kept him awake through years of high school at Bronx Science, college at Dartmouth, medical school at NYU, and as Chief Resident at Mount Sinai Hospital. Throughout my childhood, those puzzles were as much religion as any other ceremony in our home. Dad said it kept his brain sharp, fertile. Of course, Dad also consumed most of the paper every day, including the obituaries. In the last decade, Dad would tell me that he would make a point to check and make sure that his name wasn't there. Alas, my heart is heavy to add his name today. William Morton Cohn was the son of proud parents Jack Cohn and Gertrude Elkin of the Bronx, and brother to his surviving elder sister Marjorie Wollman of North Carolina, via Philadelphia. He is also survived by me, his daughter Ginevra, as well as my mom Jean Ferrier, and my daughters Sophia and Catriona. Dad was a forthright and exacting neurosurgeon, first in New York, and then in the Seattle area from 1970 until his retirement in 1992. His truth and principles were not always popular, but Dad always was compulsive about his patients' proper treatment--which is what any person would want, given that a surgeon was opening their cranium to fix something amiss. Dad was a longstanding supporter of classical music in the Seattle area as one of the founding members of the Seattle Chamber Music Society. As a Board member, he loved to attend festival concerts throughout the years, and to host visiting musicians and friends from the organization at his home for meals and good cheer. Dad treated his friends and family with loyalty, love and care, but did not suffer fools. If you were in his tribe, you knew it. He always looked after and nourished us. Dad's summer dinners on the deck left all comers full with conversation, view, and memorable meals. With a soft spot for sweets, Dad maintained a legendary candy drawer that served as a first stop for all comers to his home. Friends were known to drop by, even if Dad wasn't there, just to 'trick or treat' if desperate for a blood sugar band aid. Dr. William Cohn, my dad, was well respected and is still loved by his family and friends. He will be deeply missed and always fondly reminisced. Dad has left an indelible impact upon who I am and how I see the world--with love, generosity of spirit, intellect, and always a sense of humor.