Don Cohan

Cohan graduated from Amherst College (cum laude; 1951). There, he was a member of Beta Theta Pi.{{cite web |url=http://www.sigmabetathetapi.org/famous.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222233636/http://sigmabetathetapi.org/famous.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 22, 2008 |title=The Sigma Chapter of Beta Theta Pi |publisher=Sigmabetathetapi.org |accessdate=June 6, 2010}}

He then attended Harvard Law School. He practiced as an attorney, before going into business in real estate.{{cite web |url=http://jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=350 |title=Don Cohan |publisher=Jews In Sports |date=September 10, 1972 |accessdate=June 5, 2010 |archive-date=November 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126110710/http://jewsinsports.org/olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=350 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F13FC3F59107A93C1A91789D95F468785F9 |title=The Stars Fall on Olympic Skippers |work=The New York Times |author=Parton Keese |date=December 3, 1972 |accessdate=June 5, 2010 |archive-date=May 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527220636/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F13FC3F59107A93C1A91789D95F468785F9 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aaQrAAAAIBAJ&pg=5090,4007234&dq=donald-cohan&hl=en |title=Bretton Woods Project has been Brought to Halt |newspaper=The Nashua Telegraph |date=December 20, 1974 |access-date=November 13, 2020 |archive-date=March 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320192947/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aaQrAAAAIBAJ&pg=5090%2C4007234&dq=donald-cohan&hl=en |url-status=live}} He became President of Donesco Company, a real estate development firm.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=apDVYeo46b0C&pg=PA258 |title=Dare to Prepare: How to Win Before You Begin |publisher=Random House, Inc. |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-307-45180-4 |access-date=July 19, 2016 |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708144931/http://books.google.com/books?id=apDVYeo46b0C&pg=PA258 |url-status=live}}

File:Drachen 002.jpg]]

Cohan began sailing in 1967 at age 37.{{cite web |url=http://www.phillyjewishsports.com/inductions/451.html |title=Inductions; Class of 2005; Sailing |publisher=Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame |date=August 24, 2008 |accessdate=June 5, 2010 |archive-date=August 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821132926/http://www.phillyjewishsports.com/inductions/451.html |url-status=live}} He was on the U.S. team at the World Championships in 1969, 1970, and 1971. Cohan then won the 1972 Olympic trials, becoming the first Jew to be a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in sailing.{{cite web |url=http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat/2004/0604/Jun07/June7.html |title='Lectronic Latitude |publisher=Latitude38.com |date=June 7, 2004 |accessdate=June 6, 2010 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716135255/http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat/2004/0604/Jun07/June7.html |url-status=live}}

In the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, he was set to compete when the Munich Massacre resulted in the killing by terrorists of 11 Israeli athletes.{{cite web |url=https://www.courant.com/2006/03/05/accuracy-gap-of-olympic-proportions/ |title=Accuracy Gap Of Olympic Proportions |author=June Sandra Neal |work=Hartford Courant |date=March 5, 2006 |access-date=June 6, 2010 |archive-date=March 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305162738/http://articles.courant.com/2006-03-05/features/0603030346_1_spielberg-and-kushner-spielberg-film-munich/3 |url-status=live}} All Jewish athletes were warned to leave, and two Israelis slated to compete in sailing were instructed to return home immediately. They handed Cohan their satin, blue and white triangular flag, emblazoned with "Sports Federation of Israel. XXth Olympiad Munich 1972," and said: "You're representing us now. Go win a medal for us."

Competing at the age of 42, he came from far back on the final day and earned a bronze medal as helmsman in the mixed three-person {{convert|29|ft|m|adj=on}} Dragon class, named Caprice.{{cite web |url=http://www.suzanne.tv/show.aspx?sid=245 |title=Sailing through Adversity |publisher=Suzanne.tv |accessdate=June 5, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722230212/http://www.suzanne.tv/show.aspx?sid=245 |archivedate=July 22, 2011}}{{cite news |url=http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/PI/lib00187,0EB32D3DECAD655A.html |title=An Old Yachtsman with New Resolve; Don Cohan, 55, has overcome a lot. Now He's Plotting a Last Hurrah |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=May 5, 1996 |accessdate=June 5, 2010 |archive-date=March 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320192948/https://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB32D3DECAD655A&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cleverpig.org/back/articles/article_5.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725180120/https://www.cleverpig.org/back/articles/article_5.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 25, 2011 |author=Isler, Peter |title=An Olympic Campaign in Less-Than-One-Year |accessdate=June 5, 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/usmedals.htm |title=U.S. Olympic Yachting Medal Record |publisher=Ussailing.org |accessdate=June 5, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322050456/http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/usmedals.htm |archivedate=March 22, 2008}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oZxnNt28DhcC&pg=PA253 |author=Joseph Siegman |title=Jewish Sports Legends: the International Jewish Hall of Fame |publisher=Brassey's |year=2000 |isbn=9781574882841 |access-date=July 19, 2016 |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708150313/http://books.google.com/books?id=oZxnNt28DhcC&pg=PA253 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.boneyardboats.com/Archives/0046_Winter_2010/1968_DRAGON_CAPRICE_USA244/default.aspx |title=1968 Dragon Racing Sailboat CAPRICE |author=Andrea McDonald |publisher=Bone Yard Boats |accessdate=June 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312022916/http://www.boneyardboats.com/Archives/0046_Winter_2010/1968_DRAGON_CAPRICE_USA244/default.aspx |archive-date=March 12, 2010 |url-status=dead}} He earned the medal within just five years from when he began sailing, and was the first Jew to win an Olympic medal in sailing.

Cohan wrote: "The last act of [expletives deleted] [U.S. Olympic Committee head and International Olympic Committee president] Avery Brundage was to hang an Olympic medal around my neck."{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDyEVDIA3aIC&pg=PA121 |title=The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes: An Illustrated Compendium of Sports History and the 150 Greatest Jewish Sports Stars |author=Peter S. Horvitz |isbn=978-1-56171-907-5 |publisher=SP Books |year=2007 |access-date=July 19, 2016 |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708140721/http://books.google.com/books?id=dDyEVDIA3aIC&pg=PA121 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jMWCtJ5aHQC&pg=PA20 |title=The Fastest Kid on the Block: The Marty Glickman Story |author=Marty Glickman |author-link=Marty Glickman |isbn=0-8156-0574-9 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1999 |access-date=July 19, 2016 |archive-date=June 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623200215/https://books.google.com/books?id=0jMWCtJ5aHQC&pg=PA20 |url-status=live}} Brundage had been a Nazi sympathizer. He was notorious, among other things, for having pressured to have the only two Jews on the U.S. track team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, sprinters Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, removed at the very last moment on the morning of their 400-meter relay race, so as not to embarrass Hitler and the Nazis with a Jewish victory.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5YBJntK5IEC&q=The+Olympic+story:+pursuit+of+excellence |title=The Olympic Story: Pursuit of Excellence |isbn=0-7172-8153-1 |first=James E. |last=Churchill, Jr. |year=1983 |publisher=Grolier Enterprises Inc. |access-date=July 19, 2016 |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708140111/http://books.google.com/books?id=F5YBJntK5IEC&q=The+Olympic+story:+pursuit+of+excellence |url-status=live}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGcPDXOjxMoC&pg=PA91 |title=Jews and the Olympic Games: the Clash between Sport and Politics |author=Paul Taylor |isbn=1-903900-87-5 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |year=2004 |access-date=July 19, 2016 |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708142545/http://books.google.com/books?id=tGcPDXOjxMoC&pg=PA91 |url-status=live}} Brundage later publicly praised the Nazi regime at a Madison Square rally.

Cohan has also been U.S. champion, European champion, German champion, and Australian champion.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bVBhLBis1UC&pg=PA229 |title=Call of the Ancient Mariner: Reese Palley's Guide to a Long Sailing Life |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2003 |isbn=0-07-138881-8 |access-date=July 19, 2016 |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708144447/http://books.google.com/books?id=5bVBhLBis1UC&pg=PA229 |url-status=live}}

In 1984, he put his legal skills to good use. He charged Robbie Haines, one of the competitors in the Olympic yachting Soling trials, with having left too early (or "barged") at the start of the race, in Long Beach, California. Ed Baird, a fellow competitor, said that Cohan "destroyed Haines in the protest room", but that "We're all still pretty close". Haines was disqualified for the race. In the end, however, Haines qualified for the 1984 Olympics, where he won a gold medal.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/robbie-haines-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418045125/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/robbie-haines-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2020 |title=Robbie Haines Biography and Olympic Results |publisher=Sports Reference LLC |date= |accessdate=June 6, 2010}}

Nineteen years after winning his Olympic medal, in 1991, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease of the lymph glands and nodes, and was found to have the most severe type (4B). He was not expected to survive.{{cite web |url=http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2002/05/scuttlebutt-may-17-5801/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708080026/http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2002/05/scuttlebutt-may-17-5801/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |title=Scuttlebutt: May 17 |publisher=About Boats.com |date=May 17, 2002 |accessdate=June 6, 2010}}

He said to himself, "Don, you may be very good in your line of business, but you know nothing about this one", and assembled a team around himself that he could rely on in his fight against the cancer. Cohan looked for excellent doctors who would allow him to undergo therapy usually considered too grueling for someone his age. He interviewed doctors, engaged a psychiatrist to help him deal with grief and fear, and told his wife she would be his deputy in the struggle. He went through aggressive chemotherapy and radiation therapy, suffered through fatigue, nausea, night sweats, swelling, and pain, and made it through the cancer successfully.

Then, though only one percent of patients get Hodgkin's disease a second time—he found himself in that category. Again, he was not expected to survive. Again, he underwent aggressive chemotherapy and radiation therapy. And again, he defeated the cancer.

File:VYG 1 Soling 2008.JPG keelboat]]

In 2002, at the age of 72, he won the U.S. Soling Championship. He also finished 5th in the world championship.{{cite web |url=http://www.sailing.org/news/5027.php |title=ISAF: Preview |publisher=Sailing.org |date=September 21, 2002 |accessdate=June 6, 2010 |archive-date=March 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319202842/http://www.sailing.org/news/5027.php |url-status=live}}

Taking a step back to ruminate on sailing competitively at his age, Cohan remarked: "I'm aware that I'm on the downwind side of the hill, and the reawakened goal of being a competitive sailor has caused me to stir up banked fires and rejuvenate neglected physical abilities."

He was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

In 2010, he was still sailing competitively.{{cite web |url=http://www.thedailysail.com/inshore/10/25925/canadian-bill-abbott-takes-the-soling-worlds-in-marblehead-reports-phil-crebbin |title=Canadian Bill Abbott takes the Soling Worlds in Marblehead reports Phil Crebbin |work=The Daily Sail |accessdate=June 5, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130204181059/http://www.thedailysail.com/inshore/10/25925/canadian-bill-abbott-takes-the-soling-worlds-in-marblehead-reports-phil-crebbin |archivedate=February 4, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}

{{clear}}

Cohan has served as President of Jewish Employment and Vocational Service (JEVS) Human Services, as a member of the Directors Leadership Council of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, and as a member of the Board of Directors of The Philadelphia Orchestra.{{cite web |url=http://www.jevshumanservices.org/learnmore/our-leadership.html |title=Our Leadership |publisher=JEVS Human Services |accessdate=June 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806070537/http://www.jevshumanservices.org/learnmore/our-leadership.html |archive-date=August 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}{{cite web |url=http://www.penncancer.com/pdf/AbramRT_1_8.pdf |title=University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, 2006 Annual Report |year=2006 |accessdate=June 6, 2010 |archive-date=July 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715062734/http://www.penncancer.com/pdf/AbramRT_1_8.pdf |url-status=live}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXzZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Donald+S+Cohan%22 |title=The Philadelphia Orchestra: the search for a home |author=Irvin R. Glazer |isbn=0-915010-39-9 |publisher=Sutter House |year=1995}} In 1986 he made a gift of a dormitory to Amherst College; it was named the Cohan Dormitory in his honor in 1989.{{cite web |url=https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/historyAC |title=Amherst College: A Chronology |accessdate=June 6, 2010 |archive-date=May 31, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531211514/https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/historyAC |url-status=live}}

• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007H0FWO Importing practices & procedures: A reference manual] (1964; Pennsylvania Bar Association, Committee on Continuing Legal Education)
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007FNNHA Pennsylvania Trusts] (1964)

• [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/temple28&div=28&id=&page= "Pennsylvania Wait-and-See Perpetuity Doctrine – New Kernels from Old Nutshells"], 28 Temple Law Quarterly 321 (Winter 1955)
• [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/vllalr1&div=29&id=&page= "Manufacturing Federal Diversity Jurisdiction by the Appointment of Representatives: Its Legality and Propriety"], with Mercer Tate, 1 Villanova Law Review 201 (1956)
• [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3310236 "Legal, Tax, and Accounting Aspects of Fiduciary Appointment of Stock Proceeds: The Non-Statutory Pennsylvania Rules"], with Stephen Dean, 106 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 2 (December 1957)
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=ITmzAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Donald+S+Cohan%22U "Considering Apportionment Consequences of Corporate Action"], 21–22 The Shingle 57 (1958)
• [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/temple32&div=23&id=&page= "Law and Practicalities for Yachtsmen"], 32 Temple Law Quarterly 241 (1958–59)
• [https://www.jstor.org/pss/3310778 "Pennsylvania Tentative Trusts"], 110 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 972 (1962)
• [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/temple36&div=13&id=&page= "Accounting Considerations of Apportionment by Trustees of Receipts from Stock"], 36 Temple Law Quarterly 121 (Winter 1963)
• [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/temple37&div=46&id=&page= "Legal and Practical Implications of Purchasing a Pleasure Boat – The Role of the Attorney"], 37 Temple Law Quarterly 401 (1963)

• List of select Jews in sailing
• List of Olympic medalists in Dragon class sailing
• List of select cases of Hodgkin's Disease

{{Reflist}}

• {{World Sailing|id=USADC85|www=donald-smith-cohan|name=Donald Smith Cohan}}
• {{Olympics.com profile|donald-smith-cohan|Donald Smith Cohan}}
• {{Olympedia}}

{{Footer American Championship Winners in Soling}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohan, Don}}

Category:1930 births

Category:2018 deaths

Category:American male sailors (sport)

Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in sailing

Category:Sailors at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Dragon

Category:Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Category:Jewish American sportspeople

Category:Amherst College alumni

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:Sportspeople from Philadelphia

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:20th-century American sportsmen