Renowned journalist and writer Richard Cohen’s rebellious spirit and anti-establishment mindset was born the day in high school when he stole the electric chair from an abandoned Connecticut state prison. He wrote about it in his first Op-Ed for the New York Times in 1977—a fitting prelude to a lifetime of incisive journalism and captivating storytelling.
Richard was born in NYC on February 14, 1948, and he grew up in West Hartford, CT. His mother Teresa (Beitzer) was a nurse and his father Benjamin Cohen a doctor. Following his brief criminal stint (his father made him return the chair the next day), Richard attended Simpson College in Des Moines, Iowa, immersing himself in the anti-war movement. He avoided the draft, signing up instead for the famous “kiddy brigade” of 1968 that campaigned to nominate Eugene McCarthy as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Shortly thereafter he crossed paths with Peter Jennings and landed his first job in journalism, as an assistant producer of ABC’s Issues and Answers. He became adroit at political coverage and mixing drinks for all the guests who enjoyed a Sunday morning martini before pontificating on air.
From there Richard became Ted Koppel’s floor producer for both 1972 political conventions. That eventually landed him on Nixon’s enemies list when Republican lawyers on the Watergate committee accused him of espionage. Indeed, there had been rumblings from the McGovern campaign about stealing Richard away from ABC NEWS to spy on then-Vice President Spiro Agnew. The plan never materialized, but the lawyers were looking for ammunition to counter the Democrat’s presidential impeachment drumbeat. They found Richard lying in a hospital bed.
By then he was working for PBS on a documentary ironically about the politics of disability. While chatting with his colleagues one morning, he dropped the glass coffee pot. It, and life as he knew it, shattered forever. At the age of 25, Richard was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. With no treatment options available, it was just diagnosis and adios. Flare ups led to occasional hospitalizations.
Richard could have curled up into a ball, but he didn’t, at least not for long. His outlook turned to anger, denial and finally refusal to accept limitations. Richard was determined to keep his life on track and to live it large. He got his Masters in Journalism at Columbia, studying under the renowned Fred Friendly. Fred told him to be honest about his illness. It was the one time Richard didn’t listen to his mentor. Upon graduation he applied for a job at CBS NEWS and omitted any mention of MS. He was hired.
Richard carved out an amazing career as a senior producer for Walter Cronkite and Cronkite’s successor Dan Rather. He covered the rise of the Solidarity trade union movement in Poland and wars in the Middle East and Central America. The fact MS had left him legally blind made him either brave or incredibly reckless when he confronted soldiers with guns pointed at him. Eventually he would face a firing squad of his own doing.
It was bound to happen. Richard’s specialty at CBS was politics (he even took a leave in 1985 to serve as a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics) but he refused to play the game. In fact, he challenged it publicly, beginning with another Op-Ed in the Times, questioning the wisdom of cutbacks ordered by then CBS chief executive Lawrence Tisch. He later openly urged journalists to leave South Africa rather than submit to press restrictions. But the final nail in his proverbial coffin was an article in which he criticized Rather’s 1988 interview with George Bush as being “very damaging to us, to Dan, to our credibility.” Richard was fired a few months later.
But his impolitic views remained intact. One year later he produced and directed “Illusions of News” with Bill Moyers for PBS. It was a scathing exploration of how news organizations increasingly serve the interests of politicians and corporations, rather than the general public. For that, he won a George Foster Peabody award.
In his later years Richard decided to try his hand at book writing. After several failed attempts to get any proposal off the ground, his agent gently suggested he write about what he knew. Richard reluctantly agreed to tackle the elephant in the room. That of which he would not speak: Multiple
Sclerosis. He called the work BLINDSIDED and it unleashed a world he could not have predicted. His honest, raw and often witty journey tackling illness resonated with thousands of people. He let others know they were not alone. He gave them a voice and, in turn, found his own.
Richard followed that bestseller with another, STRONG AT THE BROKEN PLACES, in which he profiled five people dealing with chronic illness. Most recently, he penned CHASING HOPE, about that elusive desire he never stopped craving. His newfound openness unleashed numerous health articles published in The New York Times, AARP, and the Huffington Post.
All of which led to more recognition for a job well done: an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital School of Medicine, the 2009 AARP Inspire Award, and a founding seat on the advisory council of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center.
If you asked Richard what in life he was most proud of, however, he would say, without hesitation, his children Ben, 35, Gabe, 33, and Lily, 31. He was a wonderful father who taught his kids what courage looks like. He also instilled in them an unwavering work ethic and a wicked sense of humor. His wife of 38 years, Meredith, shares “I still remember our first meeting in 1983 when I was working as a reporter in CBS’s Midwest Bureau in Chicago. He came breezing in from NYC carrying correspondent Leslie Stahl’s suitcase and unloaded some wise crack. I thought to myself, “What a jerk. I’m going to marry this guy.”
Richard Merrill Cohen died at 11:30 am on Christmas Eve after battling pneumonia for two months. Surrounded by loved ones, he passed peacefully on Christmas Eve, a poignant moment that echoed the symmetry of his life—born on Valentine’s Day and passing on a holiday, a testament to the remarkable journey he had lived.
Richard leaves behind his brother Bern, sister Terrie, numerous nieces and nephews and their children. And of course his own kids, as well as Lily’s husband Charlie and Gabe’s wife Alli. Alli recently gave birth to the family’s first grandchild, Cameron. “Pops” couldn’t have been more excited to adopt his new moniker.
In lieu of a public funeral, a life celebration will be held at the family home in the spring, when Richard’s lilac bushes bloom anew. His ashes will be scattered in a private ceremony on Cape Cod, the place he adored and considered his second home. It’s where Richard retreated all those years ago when he was first diagnosed with MS to grieve and then get up.
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