Advanced Years
Cohen had always demonstrated a strong work ethic, telling a nephew in the early 1950s that he intended never to retire. When the youngest Pennsylvania governor, George M. Leader, was succeeded by the oldest Pennsylvania governor, David Lawrence, in 1958, he repeatedly commented on that fact. Celebrating his 90th birthday as a member of City Council on November 13, 2004, Cohen told The Philadelphia Inquirer he would not retire from City Council and would run for reelection in 2007.
Over 500 people attended a "Tribute to Change" reception at the University of Pennsylvania, held to raise money to fund Bread and Roses, a Philadelphia charitable foundation, and to honor him and his wife Florence Cohen for their lifetimes of activism, on September 12, 2005. The event, held near the law school where he had graduated first in his class more than 68 years earlier, turned out to be his last public appearance before his death.
He was buried in Har Nebo Cemetery in the Oxford Circle section of Philadelphia. His grave is located at the intersection of Israel and Shalom streets near entrance number 2. On his gravestone, unveiled on October 22, 2006, are the words "conscience of the city."
Read more about this topic: David Cohen (politician)
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