Lawrence “Larry” Cohen was sitting inside Meadows, a frozen custard shop in Columbia, when a young woman outside reacted as if she had just spotted a pop star.
“Oh my God, Mom, you will not believe who’s in Meadows right now,” the woman said, according to Cohen’s daughter Susie Cohen. “It’s Larry Cohen in Meadows!”
Susie Cohen, who was sitting on a bench nearby, said moments like that were routine in the life of this Howard County educator. “We couldn’t go anywhere without somebody knowing him, and he always stopped to say hello,” she said.
Cohen’s connection to people reflected values rooted in his Jewish life — responsibility to community and respect for others — which family members said guided both his work and his relationships.
Cohen, an educator and longtime community presence in Howard County whose career included decades in the school system and service on the county Board of Education, died on Dec. 27 from complications following a stroke. He was 76.
Friends and colleagues sometimes called him the “unofficial mayor of Howard County,” a nickname tied to how widely he was known through his work in schools and how deliberately he stayed connected to people long after they left his classrooms.
“He was always funny and very engaging,” his wife, Rita Cohen, said. “He always wanted everybody to have a good time.”
Cohen was born on Dec. 19, 1949, and grew up in Ozone Park, New York. He was raised in a Jewish household and was bar mitzvahed at the Ozone Park Jewish Center. His father, Joseph “Joey” Cohen, held several jobs, including milkman, insurance salesman and driving instructor. His mother, Jeanette Cohen, was “a tiny woman who was full of fire and loved to dance,” Rita Cohen said. She worked for a company called NatPack that sold freezers and food packages.
Cohen earned two master’s degrees in political science from Brooklyn College and one in educational administration and supervision from Loyola University in Baltimore. He first worked as a per diem substitute teacher in New York City. After being laid off during a large teachers strike, the couple moved to Maryland, where Cohen took a job at Garrison Junior High School in Baltimore.
He joined the Howard County school system and ultimately moved to Columbia. He taught high school social studies before becoming a vice principal at three high schools and a principal at a middle and a high school. He became known for being approachable and for noticing everyone in a building — not only teachers and administrators but also secretaries, custodians and aides.
“When he worked in the school, he made sure that everyone was seen and everyone was respected,” his wife said.
His daughter, Rachel Brumberger, said that instinct shaped how he led.
“At the end of the day, he always put people first,” Brumberger said. She said he cared about whether students, teachers, families and staff had what they needed to succeed and worked to bring opposing viewpoints toward common ground.
He ended his administrative career as a principal at Gateway, which is a school for students with significant challenges. He also had a stint as a pupil personal worker before retiring. Students sought him out because he was direct, practical and made them feel known, his wife said.
As a member of the Howard County Board of Education, Cohen focused on fairness and access, family members said, paying particular attention to how policies affected students in different neighborhoods. He believed resources should be shared equitably and that schools worked best when families, educators and administrators trusted one another.
He continued speaking at graduations and school events and later published a book drawn from his speeches and advice, titled “I’m Still Trying to Figure It All Out Myself: A Collection of Inspiring Words and Memorable Speeches to Live By.” Its themes, his wife said, were consistent: be kind, be responsible and keep perspective.
At home, Cohen was social and involved. He talked with neighbors and stayed in touch with old friends dating back to kindergarten.
Brumberger described him as having a tendency to worry because he cared about the safety and well-being of people around him. “He really cares about everybody that he knows,” she said.
Once someone became part of Cohen’s circle, his wife said, the relationship lasted.
“If you’re a friend of Larry’s, you’re a friend forever,” she said, describing students who became babysitters decades ago and remained close as extended family.
Jewish life remained central to the family’s identity, his wife said. She grew up in a Conservative Jewish household and is the child of a Holocaust survivor. Her husband also grew up Conservative Jewish.
The couple belonged at different times to Temple Beth Shalom, Congregation Beth Haverim and later the Columbia Jewish Congregation. Their two daughters attended Hebrew school, and both became a bat mitzvah.
Susie Cohen said her father took a particular interest in Holocaust education. His father-in-law joined him in classrooms to share his Holocaust story with students.
“I think it was the giving back and the generosity that’s taught within the religion,” Susie Cohen said.
His wife said she hopes he is remembered for the way he lived — caring for people and making sure they felt seen.
And she said he would want people to hold onto the line he repeated for years: “Keep your sense of humor. You’ll always need that.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
