Judith Cohen
Born: c. 1930
Died: October 26, 2022, age 92
Married: Irving Cohen
Children: Susan Silberman; Myra Wirzman, Harvey Cohen and Kathy Sloan Roth
Judith Cohen, of Upper Saranac Lake and New York City, passed peacefully, aged 92, on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Judith Carol Newman was born and raised in the Bronx and Queens and graduated from Queens College with a degree in education, with a concentration in Spanish. She was a full-time teacher in the New York City Public School system for most of her career. In the summer of 1955, Judy met Irving Cohen when they were both staff at Camp Scatico in the Catskills. After marrying, Judy and Irving lived in Little Neck, Queens until moving to assisted living.
Starting in 1972, Judy and Irving Cohen spent their summers at Camp Pinebrook on Gilpin Bay, Upper Saranac Lake. As schoolteachers, Judy and Irving were able to decamp the entire family to the Adirondacks each year, and made many lifelong friends in the area. Irving and Judy were a reliable presence on the Upper Saranac Lake social circuit, enjoying countless cocktail and dinner parties, concerts and Lake Association meetings. They frequently attended Shabbat services at Beth Joseph Synagogue in Tupper Lake, always followed by a dinner with friends at the Pine Grove Restaurant.
A gifted amateur musician, Judy was a pianist and the principal flutist with the Queens Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s and 1980s. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Judy found fellow musicians and assembled impromptu chamber groups with friends in Lake Placid and on Upper Saranac Lake. In Queens, she was the president of the North Hills Civic Association. And she was active in the Upper Saranac Lake Association, organizing CPR courses at Pinebrook for many years.
Judy was predeceased by her husband Irving in 2021. She is survived by a loving extended family including her brother Richard Newman and her nieces Lauren Fitzgerald and Leigh Newman; her children Susan (Joel Silberman) of Somers, New York, Myra (Mark Wirzman) of Ames, Iowa, Harvey (Michael Tardif) of Kensington, Maryland, and Kathy Sloan Roth (Larry) of Weston, Massachusetts; and grandchildren Rebecca and Julia Silberman and Sharon and Aaron Roth.
In lieu of flowers, the Cohen family respectfully requests memorial donations be made in honor of Judith Cohen to any of the following: The Upper Saranac Foundation ([[1]]), Beth Joseph Synagogue in Tupper Lake ([[2]]) or the Queens College, ([[3]] — please specify Department of Music, in memory of Judith Cohen, class of ’51).
Condolences may be sent to the family c/o Susan Cohen, 32 Londonderry Lane, Somers, NY 10589 or susansilberman2@gmail.com.