Sad News: Jacob (Jerry) Cohen
November 14, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
Jacob (Jerry) Cohen, 89, beloved husband, father, grandfather, teacher, writer, and civil rights activist, died in Waban, MA on October 22, 2023. Jerry was born on March 22, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in Somerville. After graduating from Rutgers University in the mid-1950s, he went on to earn an MA at Yale University before moving to teach history at Brandeis in 1960. Between 1964 and 1968, Jerry served on the staff of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), working closely with its co-founder, James Farmer, during the Civil Rights era. He also co-edited a magazine with novelist and cultural critic Albert Murray.
Jerry returned to Brandeis in the late 1960s, joined American Studies, and received tenure there in 1970. He wrote prolifically on the Kennedy assassination, and his critique of Oliver Stone’s film JFK was reprinted in Best American Essays of 1993. In 1968, he spearheaded the Transitional Year Program (now the Myra Kraft Achievers Program) for students from under-resourced high schools who demonstrated academic and leadership potential. In the 1980’s, he was among the faculty leaders who persuaded the university to divest its holdings in South Africa. Jerry retired in 2017 after having taught American Studies at Brandeis University for over fifty years. His class on “The Sixties” was listed as the best course in Brandeis University in Lisa Birnbach’s College Book (1984).
Jerry inherited his love of opera and a deep sensitivity to the complexities of Jewish identity in America from his father. A gifted lyric tenor, Jerry sang the Kol Nidrei prayer at Brandeis Yom Kippur services for many years. His marriage to Helena Vesterman opened the door to a flourishing musical life and he performed at Carnegie Hall in 1998. Jerry was a man of passion and generosity. As one of his sons recalled, “He lived his life as if it were an opera in which he had been assigned the tenor role.” Two nights before his death, his caregiver, Angela Lukyamuzi, and he could be heard singing spirituals together in the Inpatient Ward of Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Jerry is survived by his wife, Helena; his brother, Marshall Cohen; his sons, Joshua, Benjamin, and Casey; four stepsons; seventeen grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. American Studies and members of Jerry’s family are planning a memorial service at Brandeis in spring 2024. There is also a remembrance written by Stephen Whitfield in Brandeis Stories.
I am grateful to Jerry’s family for their contributions to this memoriam.
Sincerely,
Carol A. Fierke
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs