Carole A. Cohen

June 5, 1938 - March 17, 2020

Carole A. Cohen (don’t forget the “A,” she told us!) was a true San Francisco girl. She remembered the City when it was a collection of separate neighborhoods and the Sunset District was mostly sand dunes. She was confirmed at Emanu El, graduated from Burkes back when it was called Miss Katherine Delmare Burke’s School for Girls, spent two years at Colorado Women’s College, where she met our dad, Lou, and later earned her BA at Cal. For a brief moment she was a registered nurse after earning her nursing degree at SF State, then ended up in real estate for most of her career. Mom had a remarkable eye and collected local and international print artists and sculptors, filling her home with beauty. She had many old San Francisco friends, and made new ones in real estate, collectors and gallery circles, at SF Towers where she spent her last few years, and while traveling the world, which she loved to do. In her salad days she was a fast driver, a darn good skier, and a decent bridge player. In her later years, she became a devoted grandma, attending art shows and soccer, volleyball, baseball, and karate games and exhibitions. She was a great cook and made her much-beloved brisket every Chanukah (alongside her almost-equally beloved green jello mold), but cooking wasn’t her favorite pastime: instead, she loved nothing more than to take her family or to go with good friends to the newest, latest restaurants in San Francisco, especially sushi. She also loved the SF ballet and symphony, and Berkeley Rep. Mostly, she loved her kids, Judi (Carl Speizer) and Andrew (Syvia Magid); her grandkids, Emily and Toby; her sisters, Yvonne (Gary) and Marilyn (Bob, d. 2008), her nieces and nephews Renee (Lyosha), Marc, Michelle (d. 2013), Crissy (Donald), Jeff (Kathryn), and Michael; her seven grand-nieces & nephews; and her big extended SF family. She died the way she lived, laughing in the company of her family and telling us all what to do. For the last many years of her life she was cared for by the wonderful Dr. Kevin Saitowitz, whom she adored, and to whom we are all so grateful. Her favorite charity was the San Francisco Food Bank if you’d like to send a donation. Private services will be held, with a memorial to follow when we can have more than ten people in the room. We love you, mom. We’ll miss you always.