Albert Cohn
Albert L. Cohn, 83, of West Orange and Chilmark, Mass., died Dec. 27, 2011. He was born in Paterson.
A prolific New Jersey litigator for almost 60 years, Mr. Cohn carried a full and varied caseload and served as managing partner of his law firm, Cohn Lifland Pearlman Herrmann & Knopf of Saddle Brook, until November 2011, when he was suddenly diagnosed with advanced metastatic melanoma.
An adjunct professor at Rutgers School of Law-Newark for 26 years, Cohn chaired the board of the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education for 13 years and was honored by the New Jersey Bar Association with the Alfred C. Clapp Award for Excellence in continuing legal education in 1994.
After graduating from Georgetown University and Harvard Law School, he served in the Air Force and joined his father’s firm, which he later built into his own and relocated to Saddle Brook.
His articles on litigation have appeared in numerous publications, including Medical Malpractice Litigation and Strategy, the Rutgers Law Journal, the New Jersey State Bar Journal, and the American Bar Journal. He coauthored the state’s standard reference book on professional negligence. He was a fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation and a trustee of the Bergen Bar Foundation. He was a founder of the Morris Pashman Inn of Court and was past president of the Harvard Law School Association of New Jersey.
Less than two weeks before his retirement, he had attended his 60th Harvard Law School class reunion and was still rising daily at 6:14 a.m. (in homage to June 14, 1959, the day he married his wife) to swim 46 laps before going to the office.
He was a president of Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Montclair, a trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, a member of the council of trustees of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and a trustee of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, appearing as a walk-on in their productions of The Mikado, HMS Pinafore, and The Pirates of Penzance.
He also was a longtime Major Gifts Supporter at United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Sylvia; three daughters, Melissa, Priscilla Karnovsky, and Liza Wallach; two sons, Joshua and Tad; a sister, Betty Ann Weintraub of Bozman, Md.; and nine grandchildren.
Services were held Dec. 29 with arrangements by Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Paramus. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Melanoma Research Alliance.
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