NAME(S) ON TILE:                 HAROLD V. COHEN

DONOR NAME(S):                   MR. AND MRS. EUGENE S. COHEN

Harold V. Cohen was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania in 1906.  He moved to Wampum, Pennsylvania in 1911 and became a newspaper correspondent for the New Castle, Pennsylvania, paper at the age of 13.  He graduated from Wampum High School in 1921.  Since he needed a diploma from a 4 year school to enter college, he spent another year at New Castle High, thus holding two high school diplomas.

His bent for journalism propelled him to the editorship of the Penn State Collegian.  Immediately after his graduation in 1929, he joined the staff of the Pittsburgh Post which merged with The Gazette Times the following year.  By 1929 he had become motion picture editor and critic for the Post Gazette, adding the duties of Drama Critic seven years later.

In 1955 he was named Movie Critic of the Year by the Screen Directors Guild which had studied reviews from 300 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada.

In 1950 he helped establish a magazine, TV Guide, of which he was associate editor and columnist while he continued to work at the Post Gazette.

He was married in 1936 to Stephanie Diamond who was an ingenue to the Joe Penner National Radio Show.  Harold was cited in 1967 as a distinguished alumnus by Penn State University.  The citation read “To Harold V. Cohen, whose career as drama critic, editor, and columnist has enlightened generations of newspaper readers in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas and brought distinction to a loyal and outspoken alumnus.”

Harold Cohen died November 8, 1969 after 40 years as a columnist for the Post Gazette.  He was 63 years old.