Michael Cohen

COHEN, Michael, 69, of Ridgecrest, N.C., and Orlando, Fla., entered into eternal rest Saturday, June 21, 2008, at the Memorial Campus of Mission Hospital. A native of Tampa, he was the son of the late Julian P. and Laura Chapman Cohen. Mr. Cohen received his bachelor' s degree in music and a master' s degree in organ performance from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. He taught music in the Florida public schools for 39 years and was the church organist and music director for The Church of the Holy Spirit in Apopka, Fla., for the past 17 years. Mr. Cohen was the past dean of the American Guild of Organist, Central Florida Chapter, a member of the Winter Park Bach Festival choir, and he was active in church music conferences and master classes throughout the past 55 years. He is survived by his partner, Carl Brown; brothers, Paul Cohen and his wife, Donna, of Toronto, Canada, and their children, Marc and Julia and Joel Cohen, and his partner, Barry Dingman. A service of remembrance will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 19, 2008, The Church of the Holy Spirit 601 S Highland Ave., Apopka, Fla . The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the American Guild of Organist Scholarship Fund, AGO National Headquarters, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1260, New York, NY 10115-1260, telphone number, (212) 870-2310, fax number, (212) 870-2163, or the American Heart Association, 1101 Northchase Parkway, Suite 1, Marietta, GA 30067, telephone number (678) 385-2000. Arrangements were entrusted to Brigman' s Funeral Service in Black Mountain, N.C. For those who wish, words of comfort may be expressed to the family under Mr. Cohen' s obituary at www.brigmans.com.