Service recognized
Cohen has hired many students over the years
Major Goolsby’s owner Jerry Cohen, 80, receives Pius XI High School’s Faithful Servant Award during the Mass that Cohen holds for his employees each year during Summerfest.
Flipping burgers and taking orders at Major Goolsby’s stand at Summerfest is a rite of passage for many students at Pius XI High School.
“It’s sort of a coming of age thing,” stand manager Molly Fehrenbach-Nicholls said. “You go and work for Major Goolsby’s at Summerfest.”
For about 40 years, Goolsby’s owner Jerry Cohen, 80, has employed hundreds of Pius XI teachers and students at his Summerfest stand. Both Cohen and his wife Jeanne have been longtime supporters of the Catholic high school.
But on Sunday, Cohen was in for a surprise: Pius XI has launched a permanent endowment in his name, and Cohen’s friends and family have already raised $175,000 for the fund. President Melinda Skrade made the announcement during the Catholic Mass Cohen holds for his employees each year during the festival.
Cohen also received the Pius XI Faithful Servant Award at the ceremony.
A dedicated Catholic, Cohen has held an informal Mass for his Summerfest employees for more than 30 years.
This year’s Mass took place on a rooftop patio overlooking the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage, where a U2 tribute band and singersongwriter Andy Grammar would perform hours later.
There wasn’t an organ or choir. Instead of pews, worshippers arranged seats from cocktail tables to create hodgepodge rows facing the makeshift altar where the Rev. Tim Kitzke gave a short homily.
“When they asked if I’d come and speak at the Mass for Jerry Cohen, I knew I made it big,” Kitzke said.
More than a summer job
Around 100 people gathered Sunday morning for the Mass and the ceremony.
“Raise your hand if you’ve ever worked for Jerry,” Skrade asked the crowd.
More than half raised their hands. A few were already wearing their Major Goolsby’s T-shirts, ready to start their shifts. Many had buttons with a photo of Cohen pinned to their shirts.
For Cohen, hiring Pius XI students has never been about just helping teens make a few extra bucks during summer vacation, Fehrenbach-Nicholls said. Cohen also makes sure his employees learn the value of hard work and how to get along with others.
“Bottom line, be good to people,” Cohen said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Fehrenbach-Nicholls first started working at Major Goolsby’s in the early 1980s while she was a student at Pius XI, 135 N. 76th St. She met her husband while working for Cohen.
“He’s just really a loyal and caring person,” she said. “He’s a really supportive person through marriages and deaths and anniversaries.”
A longtime friend and a former employee of Cohen’s, Dick Fischer described him as an honest and upfront boss who has always been willing to lend a hand to someone when they need it.
“Most people who get to know him will say the same thing,” he said. “He’s special.”