 Al receives his 80 year certificate. |
Alexander . 'Al' Cohen Newington, CT QCWA # 17720 Chapter 149 |
Alexander "Al" Cohen of Newington died Thursday, July 27, 2017, at the age of 99. Born 1918 in Hartford, he was the son of the late Samuel and Ida Cohen of Glastonbury and Hartford. Predeceased by his beloved wife of 61 years, Myra,and his brother Edward of FL , Hartford and Glastonbury, CT. He leaves beloved daughters Marlene Cohen and Francine Cohen of CT and MA and beloved son Steven, his wife Ann and three grandchildren Noah of CO, Adam and Natan of NJ, a sister Sonia Cohen at the Hebrew Home in West Hartford, a niece Libby Wallace and her husband Ben of CT, and their children and a nephew James Cohen of PA and his children.
He attended Northeast and Arsenal schools in Hartford, graduated in 1936 from Hartford Public High School a member of the National Honor Society receiving the RPI Science and Math Medal. Upon graduation in 1936 was employed at Post & Lester RCA Distributors as a radio repairman and later at Hub Radio Stores and G. Fox & Company, later in the engineering department of the Hartford Times radio station WTHT where he later became its local sales manager and creator of the 1950's "Arthur Arthur Arthur" and other advertising ads and jingles. In 1954 upon the merger of WTHT with WONS which become WGTH he worked in sales at the latter until he left that summer to co-found an electronics firm.
Served in WWII in communications with the US Army Air Corps in its 1st Photo Mapping Squadron where although a Corporal was granted officer status in the Canadian Arctic for installation of radio stations. Later served in North Africa and Okinawa, lastly as a Tech Sergeant and Squadron Communications Chief. With Captain Ray Green started a squadron broadcasting station KRW with authorization of the US 8th Air Force.
He was a member of Congregation B'nai Sholom, Newington, later in B'nai Tikvoh-Sholom in Bloomfield and chairman of its Friends of Yiddish Club.
He felt highly honored to be named Honorary Grand Marshal of the Newington Memorial Day Parade 2002, and a recipient with his wife Myra of the Newington Chamber of Commerce's Public Service Award that year and especially honored to be the Newington Veteran's Day 2016 keynote speaker at Town Hall.
Al was co-founder of the former Signal Electronic Supply (Signal Center) in 1954 with his late friend Gilbert Edlin and worked there until 1991 when he worked part-time until 2005. He was also co-founder of Atlantic Radio Service with his late friend Donald Putnam, and of Charter Oak Productions with the late Leonard Schoenfeld.
He became an amateur radio operator at age 14 with the call letters W1FXQ and qualified at age 18 for an FCC Radio-Telephone First Class Commercial license which he currently held together with an Extra Class Amateur Radio Operator's license.
He was a member of American Legion Post 117 and Jewish War Veterans Post 45. He was Program and PR chairman for 30 years of the Kiwanis Club of Newington and holder of the coveted Kiwanis Hixson award, also held same offices at the Newington Amateur Radio League and received its Lifetime Achievement Award and its Ham of the Year Award. A brick in honor of his wife and him is in the patio of the National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL). He was previously a Public Information Officer for the CT Section of the ARRL, and a former board member of the Business & Professional Microcomputer Group.
He boasted of teaching oldsters to use a computer and of "dragging them into the 21st century", was also a charter and life member, Past President and Program Chair of Milton Chaffee Memorial Chapter 149 of the Quarter Century Wireless Association, past VP and Program Chair of Ararat Lodge B'nai B'rith, past member of the Pioneer Valley Radio Association, The Greater Norwalk Radio Club, The Insurance City Repeater Club, the Hartford County Amateur Radio Association , Middlesex Amateur Radio Society; past member of the Hartford Advertising Club, the Southern Connecticut Advertising Club, the Noah Webster House, and a past president of the Young People's League at Emanuel Synagogue (Hartford 1953). Memorial Contributions may be made to Jewish War Veterans, the Kiwanis, the Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut, or the Synagogue.
A funeral will be graveside on Sunday, July 30, at 3:00PM with Rabbi Debra Cantor officiating at the Congregation B'nai Sholom Cemetery, Jordan Lane Extension, 1361 Berlin Turnpike, Wethersfield. Shivah will follow.
Funeral arrangements provided by Hebrew Funeral Association, West Hartford.
Published in The Hartford Courant on July 29, 2017