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ISIDORE COHN, JR., M.D., emeritus professor and emeritus chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, died after a short illness on October 14, 2015 \u00a0in his Metairie home surrounded by his family. He was 94.<\/p>\n
Dr. Cohn served as Chairman of LSU Health Sciences Center in the Department of Surgery in New Orleans from 1962-1989. His professional record as a doctor and an academic was exemplary. He served on several national committees and organizations for decades and was awarded the title of first vice president of the American College of Surgeons in 1993.<\/p>\n
The Isidore Cohn, Jr.-James D. Rives Surgical Society, the official alumni organization of the LSU School of Medicine’s Department of Surgery, was established in honor of Drs. Cohn and Rives, both of whom are considered academic giants at LSU. The society’s conference is held annually in New Orleans. A professorship of surgery at LSU was dedicated in Dr. Cohn’s name in June of 1987.<\/p>\n
Cohn, the son of a successful Uptown physician, was raised in New Orleans, and exposed to medicine at an early age. He attended Tulane University and graduated with honors in chemistry with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in 1942 and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies. Additionally, Cohn was vice-president of the Associated Student Body.<\/p>\n
Following graduation, he matriculated to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1945 from the four-year program at the School of Medicine in three years. He served an internship at Graduate Hospital from 1945-1946, was a Philadelphia Fellow from 1947-1948 and was a resident in surgery from 1949 to 1952 in Philadelphia. He received additional master’s and doctorate degrees in sciences at the University of Pennsylvania in 1952 and 1955, respectively, and was awarded a doctor of humane letters degree from the University of South Carolina in 1955.<\/p>\n
Expected to join his father’s established surgical practice at Touro Infirmary, Cohn instead accepted a position at LSU in 1952, after being recruited by Rives. A decade later, when Dr. Rives retired, Dr. Cohn was named as chairman of the Department of Surgery and held that post for 27 continuous years.<\/p>\n
Upon Dr. Rives’ retirement in 1962, Dr. Cohn was named professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, a position that he held continuously for 27 years. With one of the longest tenured positions as an academic surgeon, Dr. Cohn trained more than 200 surgeons as residents under his personal direction.<\/p>\n
Dr. Cohn was certified by the American Board of Surgery and a member of the American Medical Association, serving on its Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Advisory Committee as a representative of the American College of Surgeons from 1992-1995. He was made a member of Who’s Who in America in 1980. Dr. Cohn was a Councillor for Louisiana at the Southeastern Surgical Congress from 1967-1973, additionally serving as the president in 1972 following stints as second and first vice-presidents in 1965 and 1969, respectively.<\/p>\n
He was the president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract from 1976-1977 and chairman of the board in 1978, a director of the American Board of Surgery from 1969-1975 and the president of the Southeastern Cancer Research Association in 1975. Dr. Cohn was a director of the National Pancreatic Cancer Project from 1975-1984 and served the Southern Surgical Association in several titled capacities including president from 1982-1983.<\/p>\n
Dr. Cohn was a member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons, serving its executive committee for four years including assuming the roles as vice-chairman in 1989 and chairman in 1990. He was also an honorary member of Sociedad Colombiana De Cirujanes Generales, the Columbian Surgical Society.<\/p>\n
He held memberships in Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society and the Society of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society. Dr. Cohn was also a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the Society for Clinical Trials, Inc., the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society of Microbiologists, the Society of Surgical Chairmen, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American Surgical Association and the Societe Internationale de Research Chirurgie.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Dr. Cohn was a member of the James Ewing Society of the Association for Academic Surgery, the Association for Gnotobiotics, the Society of University Surgeons, the Bockus Society of Gastroenterology,the Southeastern Cancer Research Association, the Collegium Internationale Chirurgie Digestivae, the Southeastern Surgical Association, the James D. Rives Surgical Association, the Southern Medical Association, the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Southern Surgical Association, the New Orleans Surgical Society, the Surgical Association of Louisiana and the New York Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n
Over the course of several decades, Dr. Cohn published 358 scholarly, peer-edited articles and served as an editor of others’ works in The American Surgeon, Current Surgery (formerly The Review of Surgery), the American Journal of Surgery, Digestive Diseases and Sciences, Surgical Gastroenterology, Medical Principles and Practices, Digestive Surgery and Cancer medical journals. He contributed to several academic books on surgery including contributing to one in which he reminisced on his 34 years of experience at Charity Hospital in 1998. He also a was a noted lecturer.<\/p>\n
A longtime member of Touro Synagogue, Dr. Cohn served on its board for several years and was also a board member of the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana (formerly the Jewish Endowment Foundation of New Orleans). He also was active on the boards of the Greater New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau and was a significant contributor to the Greater New Orleans Foundation.<\/p>\n
An avid art collector, Cohn was noted as having assembled one of the best collections of Steuben glass in the world. He served on the board of the New Orleans Museum of Art and arranged exhibitions for his crystal and Chinese jade collections in 2004 and 2013-2014, respectively. For their generosity, Cohn and his second wife were honored with the coveted Issac Delgado Award from the museum.<\/p>\n
Among the other honors Dr. Cohn received were the Spirit of Charity award from the Medical Center of Louisiana in 2002, the Outstanding Alumnus Award from Isidore Newman School in 2003, the Tzedakah Award from the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana in 2009 and the Chairman’s Award from the Arts Council of New Orleans in 2012).<\/p>\n
Dr. Cohn is survived by his wife Marianne Cohn. He was predeceased by his first wife, Jacqueline Heymann, and is also survived by his children from his first marriage, Ian J. Cohn (Vicki) and Lauren Fouros, both of New York, NY.; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n
A memorial service was held Sunday, October 18 at 4:00 p.m. at Touro Synagogue, followed by a private burial. To honor his memory, the family requests donations to support and enhance the Isidore Cohn, Jr., M.D., Student Learning Center, c\/o the LSU Medical Alumni Association, 2020 Gravier Street, 5th Floor, New Orleans, LA 70112.<\/p>\n