[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 15, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S7491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Remembering Allan Cohen

  Third, we go from one end of our State to the other, from 
Philadelphia all the way to Pittsburgh, to talk about a third 
Pennsylvanian. This individual's name was Allan Cohen.
  Allan Cohen was a civil rights leader and advocate from Pittsburgh. 
He was 93 years old when he passed away on July 31 of this year.
  Allan spent his life fighting for justice. As a young adult, he 
traveled to Mississippi to help Black voters to register to vote. He 
was here in Washington to hear the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr.'s famous ``I Have a Dream'' speech in 1963, part of the great March 
on Washington that year.
  Allan was a lawyer. He went to the University of Pittsburgh, both for 
his undergraduate degree as well as for his law degree. He specialized 
in ``fighting for the underdog,'' as his son Norman said in Allan's 
obituary, taking on personal injury cases for blue-collar workers, just 
by way of one example.
  He was also a dedicated family man. Allan Cohen and his wife Lois 
were married for 66 years. They raised two sons. Allan's wife Lois 
contracted COVID-19 and has been fortunate to recover. Their family 
describes this couple as ``the perfect match.''
  In retirement, Allan liked to audit classes at the University of 
Pittsburgh, his alma mater. He also liked to garden. His son Norm 
recalled ``the best vacations'' as a child, including a cross-country 
road trip. Once Norm and his brother Lawrence were grown up, they would 
take their father Allan and their mom Lois on vacations, instead, I 
guess as a way to return the favor for those vacations when they were 
young.
  Allan's family remembers him, of course, as a civil rights advocate 
and a skilled orator who loved to travel. In the words of his 
granddaughter Molly, as quoted in his obituary, ``What I admire most 
about my grandpa was his integrity and how he always made things light 
and fun.'' Molly went on to say: ``When things in the world are unjust, 
Grandpa always speaks up and does what he can to make a difference.''
  In addition to his wife, sons, and granddaughter Molly, Allan left 
behind seven other grandchildren and one great-grandchild. So we are 
thinking today of Allan Cohen's family and offer our condolences and 
sympathies