Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1175934
8 MPEG FELLOWSHIP & SERVICE AWARD 2019 Lessons From His Father The grandson of immigrants from Russia and Hungary, Cohen was born in 1953 and grew up in Bayside, Queens. His father worked in the New York City garment business and thought his son might follow him into the trade and rise within it. Reflecting on what his father taught him, the Guild honoree stated, "I learned it from my dad — you treat the janitor the same as you treat the head of the company, all the more so in our business." His dad took him to movies, too, and in his teens, the boy was impressed by films like Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966) and Frank Perry's The Swimmer (1968). He shot 35mm stills, developing and printing his own photographs, and had his own 8mm movie camera with an editing setup. "I filmed my cousin's wedding and cut it myself," he said. Searching for film work aer college, he was turned down for a job in the Bronx DA's office to videotape crime scenes. He found work, though, at a Manhattan cable public access station where he learned how to handle a TV switcher and taught video portapak classes. Ironically, a side job delivering notarized legal documents for a NYC firm called Step Savers Counterclockwise from top: Cohen in 1966 at his Bar Mitzvah. Photo by H & H Photographers Apprentice editor Cohen, left, with American Pop animation production supervisor Daniel Pia, 1980. The Bakshi Productions animators' 1979 birthday card to production assistant Cohen Cohen with daughter Maggie, 1983. Photo by Kathy Cohen