Claire Stollman Cohon, 89, of Los Angeles, died Aug. 2, 2019.
A teacher and philanthropist, she was born to Louis and Dora Stollman in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1930, as the Great Depression was taking hold. By age 4 she was operating the cash register in her parents’ struggling restaurant. She received her bachelor’s degree from UCLA in theater arts and married Baruch “Barry” Cohon in 1950. While raising four children, Mrs. Cohon taught drama to teens at the JCC, ran a summer day camp, and then became a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She earned a master’s degree in elementary education at age 45 and taught until age 72. She and her husband founded two charities together.
Survivors include her husband, Rabbi Baruch Cohon; children Rachel Cohon of Schenectady, New York, Deborah Boyer of Oakland, California, Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon of Tucson, and Jonathan Cohon of Valparaiso, Indiana; and six grandchildren.
Services were held in Los Angeles.
RELATED STORIES
