Lyon Cohen

Lyon Cohen
Born May 11, 1868
Budwitcher, Poland
Died 1937 (aged 6869)
Nationality Canada
Ethnicity Jewish
Known for co-founder of the Canadian Jewish Times
Religion Judaism
Spouse(s) Rachel Friedman
Children Nathan Bernard Cohen
Horace Rives Cohen
Lawrence Zebulun Cohen
Sylvia Lillian Cohen

Lyon Cohen (1868-1937) was a Polish-born Canadian businessman and a philanthropist. He is the grandfather of singer/poet Leonard Cohen.

Biography

Cohen was born in Budwitcher, Poland to an ethnic Jewish family on May 11, 1868.[1] He immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1871.[1] He was educated at the McGill Model School and the Catholic Commercial Academy in Montreal.[1] In 1888, he entered the firm of Lee & Cohen in Montreal; later became partner with his father in the firm of L. Cohen & Son; in 1895, he established W. R. Cuthbert & Co; in 1900, he organized the Canadian Improvement Co., a dredging contractor; in 1906, he founded The Freedman Co. in Montreal; and in May 1919, he organized and became President of Canadian Export Clothiers, Ltd.[1] The Freedman Company went on to become one of Montreal’s largest clothing companies.[2]

In 1897, Cohen co-founded with Samuel William Jacobs, the Canadian Jewish Times, the first English language Jewish newspaper in Canada.[3] The newspaper promoted the Canadianization of recent East European Jewish immigrants and encouraged their acceptance of Canadian customs[2] as Cohen felt that the old world customs of immigrant Jews were one of the main causes of anti-Semitism.[2] In 1914, the paper was purchased by Hirsch Wolofsky, owner of the Yiddish language Keneder Adler, who transformed it into the Canadian Jewish Chronicle.[2]

Philanthropy

He was elected the first president of the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1919 and organized the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services of Canada.[3] Cohen was also a leader of the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society (later the Baron de Hirsch Institute) and the United Talmud Torahs, a Jewish day school in Montreal.[4] He also served as president of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim[2] and president of the Jewish Colonization Association in Canada.[3]

Personal life

Cohen married Rachel Friedman of Montreal on February 17, 1891. She was the founder and President of Jewish Endeavour Sewing School. They had three sons and one daughter:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Quebec History Encyclopedia: Lyon Cohen retrieved April 22, 2012
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Museum of Jewish Montreal: "Lyon Cohen - Freedman Company" retrieved September 6, 2014
  3. 1 2 3 Cohen, Lyon Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee National Archives
  4. 1 2 Newspapers of Jewish Montreal" (page 3), Jewish Public Library Archives.
  5. The International Who's Who 2004 retrieved April 22, 2012
  6. Cohen, Leonard (24 May 1985). The Midday Show With Ray Martin. Interview with Ray Martin. ABC. Sydney. Retrieved 1 October 2008. My – my mother was from Lithuania which was a part of Poland and my great-grandfather came over from Poland to Canada.
  7. Leonard Cohen Biography : Leonard Cohen was born to a Polish father and a Lithuanian-Jewish mother in Quebec in 1934.
  8. Canadian Jewish News: "Earliest Canadian-made chanukiyah discovered" November 26, 2012
Preceded by
none
President of the Canadian Jewish Congress
1919-1934
Succeeded by
Samuel William Jacobs
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