Jan Cohn

07/01/2004

Jan Cohn, 70, died yesterday at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, N.Y., after a lengthy illness. Mrs. Cohn was the first woman to serve as dean of faculty and chief academic officer, from 1987 to 1994, at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Born in Brookline on Aug. 9, 1933, daughter of Allan and Beatrice Goldberg Kadetsky, she was a 1955 graduate of Wellesley College. She earned a master's degree from the University of Toledo and a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Michigan. An enthusiastic teacher, Mrs. Cohn was the only dean of faculty in the history of the college to have taught a course every semester during her deanship. After stepping down as dean, she resumed full-time teaching, contributing courses not only to the English department and the American studies program, but also to the cities program. She had also been the school's G. Keith Funston Professor of American Literature and American Studies. Prior to teaching at Trinity College, she taught at George Mason University, where she chaired the English department, and also was on the faculty at Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and the University of Toledo. A writer, she published five books, and wrote more than 40 articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries and reviews. Her most recent research centered on images of childhood in American literature and culture. She was a trustee at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge and cultural adviser for several exhibitions as well as co-curator of an upcoming exhibition, "Images of Childhood 1850-1950." She was also active with the Sandisfield Arts Center. Over the past year, Mrs. Cohn had been organizing a major symposium on "Bushnell Park at 150: Legacies and Lessons" to help mark the sesquicentennial of the park's founding adjacent to Trinity's original campus. The symposium, scheduled for the fall, will be dedicated to her memory. The college will hold memorial services in the fall. She leaves her husband of 33 years, William; a daughter, Cathy Barrow; a son, David Solomon; a brother, Peter Kadetsky, and two grandsons. FUNERAL NOTICE -- The funeral for Jan K. Cohn, age 70, who died July 1, 2004, will be Saturday at 2 at the Sandisfield Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, if friends desire, memorial contributions may be made to the Jan K. Cohn Memorial Scholarship Fund at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. She leaves her husband of 33 years, William; a daughter, Cathy Barrow (Dennis); son David Solomon (Carola Sautter); and two grandsons, Adam and Luke Solomon. She also leaves a brother, Peter Kadetsky (Ann Stark), three nieces and a nephew.

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