February 10th, 2024
South Beach Club
Hilton Head Island, SC
Dearest Patti, Please accept my heartfelt sympathies upon the death of Horace. Horace afforded me the opportunity as a young lawyer to insinuate the often complicated but always challenging arena of commercial law. I am grateful for the insight which I garnered working for you both in your sometimes atmospheric enterprises (though I hasten to add Horace was always self-effacing and frequently to a comical degree). His loss to me represents a noticeable change of an era. With love. L. G. William Chapman, B.A., LL.B., Mississippi Mills, Ontario
The inescapable reflection by so many people of our advanced generation is “Everyone we know is dying!“ While it is of course an exaggeration there nonetheless persists the incontrovertible fact that the boundary of our erstwhile friendships is rapidly diminishing. It is a transition which deeply affects not only those who have suffered the immediate loss but also those who survive to ruminate upon the dreadful subject of death.
As I rattled about Lands End this morning on my rental bicycle, keeping care to maintain my oftimes dubious balance, I detected an incoming email on my iPhone. It was one of those alerts one never likes to receive. Suzanne Campeau of Ottawa, Ontario had written to advise that she was en route to comfort her sister following the death of Horace Cohen.
Reading the obituary for Horace, I was taken by the simple and plain detail of the account. In an instant it had captured all that was crucial to a man’s existence and demise. And yet I could not help but ponder upon the many other remarkable things which might have been told of the man, not necessarily things of common approbation such as business or political success; rather about his moot philosophies or emotional peculiarities or droll persuasions. Naturally I soon acknowledged that those assertions were but the capital of one’s private association with the man. They constituted mere trifles surrounding an otherwise labyrinthine existence, the avenues and valleys of which had been shared variously with many others. But for me those inconsequential memories of the man were the veritable sinews of our relationship.
I am happy to share that my relationship with Horace, though brief and limited, was outstanding in its import. His sparsity of words commanded attention. I knew him to be generous and kind – especially magnanimous in his love for Patti. And I always enjoyed his sense of humour, that delightful feature which dissolves all differences and enlarges the strength of communion.
Horace Bernard Cohen
Obituary published on Legacy.com by Beth Israel Memorial Chapel Delray Beach on Feb. 9, 2024.
Cohen, Horace Bernard age 92 of Delray Beach, Florida passed away on February 8th, 2024. Horace is survived by his beloved wife, Kathryn Patricia (“Patti”) Flesher; loving father of Stephen Cohen (Pernille Rorth), Lisa Cohen (Kenneth Silver) and Sharon Cohen (Eric Barker). Graveside Services will be held 10:45am on Sunday Morning at Eternal Light Memorial Gardens, 11520 State Road 7, Boynton Beach Florida 33473. Those wishing to honor Horace with a memorial contribution are kindly encouraged to consider The Jewish Federation or The Jewish Family Services.