Arthur Cohen
Title: Arthur Cohen
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Arthur Cohen spent his early years during the Great Depression. As a boy, he was often a primary provider for his family, laying concrete blocks under a hot Miami sun. After the war, Cohen went to the University of Miami and by his early 20s he was a co-owner of a construction firm that built apartment buildings and houses in the post-war Miami boom.

After long days of physical labor, Cohen attended the University of Miami at night one class at a time for 11 years to earn his master’s degree in history. By 1962, with a wife and four children, he had saved enough money to move the family to Tallahassee, where he attended class, wrote a dissertation and earned a Ph.D. in just two years.

In 1964, Cohen earned a doctorate degree in education from Florida State University and later, in that same year, took his first and only position as a professor of education at UCLA, from which he retired in 2004.

Cohen was a prolific scholar and revered teacher. In addition to his professional work, he cultivated other passions, including collecting sculptures. In 2014, after the death of his wife, Florence, he donated the stunning collection of sculptures you see throughout the Luskin Conference Center and Hotel. The artist passed away on December 25, 2020, at the age of 93.