Former Great Neck Estates Mayor Stanley Cohen wasn’t the best friend to just one or two people – he was the best friend to his entire family say those who knew him best.
“I say he was my best friend, but my brother also says he was his best friend, and my mother says he was her best friend,” Stanley’s daughter, Jamie said. “That’s just the kind of guy he was.”
Cohen died Oct. 29 from amyloidosis, a rare heart disease caused by an excess of amyloid in the heart. He was 75.
Cohen was mayor of Great Neck Estates from 1983 until 1989. Prior to being mayor he served as both deputy mayor and trustee of Great Neck Estates.
Jamie said her father taught her many lessons she continues to teach her own children, such as always giving support and telling your children to do the best they can.
“Kids can be mean to each other,” Jamie said. “It’s important to have someone to come home to who says ‘you can do it, you’re terrific.’” Jamie said. “He would always make me feel good about myself and I try to model my parenting after him.”
Jamie said she was always delighted when her parents would come to see her while she attended Lehigh University, whereas most kids wouldn’t be as accepting of their parents visiting them. She said she also looks back fondly on being able to watch her father play basketball at the parks, and proud to see him, a man in his 50s, playing alongside the younger players.
Cohen’s son, Adam, said his father grew up in Brooklyn playing basketball, but eventually moved to Great Neck when he started a family.
Adam said his life was committed to public service, but that he would have liked people to consider his legacy his family.
Adam also said that his father never did public service for the accolades – he did it because he liked to give back.
“He was always talking to people at the parks,” Adam said. “It took us 45 minutes to get from the parking lot to the pool because everyone wanted to say just a little something to him.”
Dee Campbell, who currently works for the Great Neck Estates highway department, said she began working for Cohen right after she graduated high school, at the factory he owned 49 percent of at the time, Tyz-All, a company that made vinyl winter weather windows and other plastic products. Campbell said he was more than a boss to her for most of her life – he was a father figure.
Campbell said when she was taking out a bank loan to get her first car, she went with her parents initially to co-sign the loan. Unfortunately, Campbell said, they primarily used cash for everything and didn’t have any credit. Cohen jumped in to help, Campbell said.
“He said ‘I’ll co-sign the loan but let your parents think they were the ones to co-sign it,” Campbell said.
Campbell said “Stan the man,” as he was known among friends, was unlike any other mayor.
“I want him to be recognized because he wasn’t just another mayor,” Campbell said. “He was unbelievably nice to everybody and he never asked for nor did he expect anything in return.”
Cohen’s children are asking people to help find a cure for amyloidosis by donating to the escrow account of Myer and Scher, IOLA at 12 Chestnut Lane, Woodbury, N.Y. 11797.
