Eric M. Cohn '42 died November 8, 2010.
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ERIC M. COHN ’42
Eric Cohn died in his home in Mamaroneck, N.Y., on Nov. 8, 2010.
Eric came to Amherst from New York City in 1938 with his twin brother, Jay ’42. Eric was active in the Masquers in his sophomore, junior and senior years.
After graduation, Eric entered the U.S. Army Air Corps. He served as a corporal at Stewart Field in New York and, after being commissioned, completed his military service in December 1945 as a lieutenant with the 1305 AAF unit in Dum Dum, India.
Eric married Joan F. Borgenicht (Smith ’42) and then Evangeline Black (also a Smithie). He and Evangeline (?) had two children, Andrew and Lee. His third, or as he liked to say, FINAL, wife was Barbara Bisgyer Evans (Sarah Lawrence ’53), a noted New York sculptor whom he married in 1964. Their blended family (his two boys and her three girls) was the core of his family life until his death.
Eric’s primary business life was as an importer of steel and fasteners. He started in the importing business in 1946, retiring 40 years later as president of Allied International of Rye, N.Y.
Bored with retirement, he bought a seat on the New York Cotton Exchange and worked in the commodity market for two years. In 1990, he bought a small telephone business and kept busy installing phones and systems for small businesses, doctors and hospitals. He finally retired from the business in 2009. His chief interest from then until his death was the stock market.
Eric and Jay were born 2-2-22 and were extremely close until Jay’s passing in 1996.
—Ted Heisler ’42, with help from Andy Cohn