Sam Cohen was a business owner and philanthropist who lived in Biddeford all of his life. His charitable ventures were not confined locally but were spread all over southern Maine and included art and literacy organizations, hospitals and individuals. He was a member of the Congregation Etz Chaim on Bacon Street in Biddeford and was a devoted supporter of it throughout his life.
Many of his contemporaries credit him with keeping the synagogue alive even as many began to leave the community as it declined economically by quietly influencing the congregation to be more open to outsiders and to embrace less traditional ideas, such as welcoming women on to the bimah (the elevated platform on which a reader of the Torah stands during a service). As one friend remarked, “The Shul lived on thanks to and as a tribute to Sam.”
Additionally, Cohen’s accepting views were evident by his friendships with people of various faiths and were made tangible in his gifts to other religious institutions in the Biddeford area, such as St. Mary’s Church.
He was the second oldest in a family of seven children born to Julius and Celia Cohen, who emigrated to the United States from Lithuania in the early 1900’s. After passing through Ellis Island, they were drawn to the opportunities of the then booming Biddeford. The family lived in several houses around a neighborhood known as Little Canada, which was close to the textile mills that employed so many at the time. Cohen learned both Hebrew and Yiddish (which friends say he used to prevent classmates from overhearing “secret” conversations while in school) from his parents.
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Grammar schools graduation program, Biddeford, June 1928
He was educated at Emery Grammar School and Biddeford High School. After serving as a lieutenant in World War II, Cohen and his brother Bernard took over their father’s business, The York Bottling Works. Though Cohen never married, he had a companion of long-standing, Adrienne Heffernan, and was devoted to his many nephews and nieces.
Described as loving practical jokes and possessing a keen interest in politics and the law, friends and family also characterized Cohen as being a thoughtful observer with strong opinions. Echoing these sentiments, former Senator George Mitchell remarked of Cohen, “He was a good friend and a wise counselor who gave frank advice – he would give you the truth with the bark off, as they say. And he had a great sense of humor, so you got good advice and great jokes at the same time.”
A lifelong resident of Biddeford, Sam Cohen died at the age of 87 in March 2003.
