Richard M. Cohen, an outspoken and award-winning tv information producer whose profession was finally derailed by the ravages of a number of sclerosis, which he wrote about in a bestselling memoir, died Dec. 24 in Sleepy Hole, New York, a village in Westchester County . He was 76.
His spouse, former “Right now” present host Meredith Vieira, mentioned he died at a hospital of acute respiratory failure.
Mr. Cohen spent greater than 20 years within the information enterprise, working with luminaries comparable to Ted Koppel at ABC and Walter Cronkite and Dan Quite on CBS. However he tackled a distinct topic when he wrote a memoir — and articles for HuffPost, The New York Instances and different retailers — about coping with MS, a degenerative illness of the central nervous system.
Mr. Cohen was identified with MS in 1973 when he was 25 and helped produce a PBS documentary on incapacity politics.
Regardless of failing eyesight that became authorized blindness and deteriorating stability that precipitated falls that made him seem drunk to the uninformed, he labored till the mid-Nineteen Nineties as a producer for CBS Information, CNN, PBS (once more) and FX.
“Richard was a person of vigorous good humor and glowing intelligence,” Mr. Koppel wrote in an e-mail. “I am positive his many sicknesses precipitated him greater than the occasional bout of despair, however he by no means shared that with me.”
One among Mr. Cohen’s methods for dealing with MS — and dwelling life as he determined — was denial. He advised only a few folks, together with the CBS Information government who employed him in 1979, for concern of being seen as unfit. Years later, he discovered from this supervisor that if he had been sincere about his situation, he wouldn’t have been employed.
In 2004, a couple of decade after his producing profession ended, he revealed what he known as a “reluctant memoir,” Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Sickness, to recount how his once-vigorous life was curtailed by MS and two bouts of colon most cancers.
“Welcome to my world,” Mr. Cohen wrote within the guide, which spent a number of weeks on The Instances bestseller listing, “the place I carry goals, just a few sicknesses and the dedication to stay my life my approach. This guide is my each day dialog with myself, a chronicle of the struggles on this unique place simply north of the Neck.
Ms. Vieira mentioned in an interview that Mr. Cohen’s proper facet had turn into so immobilized by MS that he wrote “Blindsided” and subsequent books with solely his non-dominant left hand and along with his face near the pc display.
“He had numerous dedication and so much to say,” she mentioned.
His second guide, Sturdy on the Damaged Locations: Voices of Sickness, a Refrain of Hope (2008), provided him a long way from his personal sicknesses. On this guide, he describes 5 folks with power sicknesses: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s illness; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; Crohn’s illness; muscular dystrophy; and bipolar dysfunction.
Richard Merrill Cohen was born on February 14, 1948. in Manhattan. His father, Benjamin, was a doctor; his mom, Teresa (Beitzer) Cohen, was a nurse. His father and paternal grandmother additionally had MS
Mr. Cohen was a “misfit” in highschool, he wrote in “Blindsided,” and was kicked off athletic groups, kicked out of courses and suspended. In a spectacular prank, he and a few mates stole the electrical chair from an deserted jail; his father made him return it the subsequent day.
His focus sharpened at Simpson Faculty, in Indianola, Iowa, close to Des Moines, the place he was an anti-war activist. He was impressed to turn into a journalist after a dialog with Peter Jennings, then a correspondent for ABC Information, when he visited campus.
After graduating in 1970 diploma in historical past and political science, Mr. Cohen was employed by ABC Information as an assistant producer for the Sunday public affairs present, “Questions and Solutions.” In 1972 he was Mr. Koppel’s producer on the Democratic and Republican presidential conventions.
In 1973 he joined the PBS program America ’73, the place he helped produce the documentary on incapacity. Coincidentally, whereas at PBS, he started experiencing signs that led to a neurologist’s prognosis of MS
“I dropped a espresso pot for no cause” he told Yahoo in 2019. “I fell off a curb for no cause. I observed a slight tingling in my leg.
“It affected my imaginative and prescient pretty rapidly,” he continued, “however apart from that I used to be very bodily lively and I assumed I used to be actually beating him. I used to be dwelling in denial.”
He earned a grasp’s diploma from Columbia College’s journalism faculty in 1976, then went on to work at PBS after being turned down for a job at NBC Nightly Information as a result of he admitted he had MS.
In 1979 he joins CBS Information as a producer. He labored for Mr. Cronkite and Mr. Quite and traveled for the “CBS Night Information” to sizzling spots in Poland, Lebanon and El Salvador, regardless of his deteriorating situation.
“He was an authentic,” Andrew Hayward, a former senior producer for the “Night Information” who later turned president of CBS Information, mentioned in an interview. “There was a sample at CBS the place folks operated inside unstated constraints, however he wasn’t sure by these conventions. He was frank, charming, and had an absent-minded professorial high quality that individuals discovered endearing.’
Mr. Cohen’s rebelliousness surfaced publicly in essays for The Instances. In 1987 (under Mr. Rather’s name, but written together), after cuts at CBS News, the article warned that the division might descend into mediocrity beneath the community’s new proprietor and CEO, Lawrence A. Tisch. The fabric angered Mr. Tisch and Howard Stringer, the president of CBS Information.
Later that yr, when Mr. Cohen was the Night Information producer accountable for overseas information, he wrote (this time under his own name) that Western news outlets should leave South Africa as a result of extreme restrictions positioned on reporting by the apartheid state. The federal government sought assurances from CBS that Mr. Cohen was talking for himself and never for the community.
Extra importantly, he criticized Mr. Quite for the best way he dealt with a hostile, contentious stay interview on the “Night Information” with Vice President George W. Bush on January 25, 1988, at the beginning of the presidential marketing campaign. Mr. Quite aggressively pressed the vp about his function within the Iran-contra scandal; the Bush marketing campaign accused CBS of misrepresenting the phrases of the interview.
“Look, I feel Dan made errors,” Mr. Cohen advised The Des Moines Register. “I feel his stance was most likely too aggressive, however that is not the issue.” He added: “We took a heavy hit. I feel it was very damaging for us. To Dan. For our belief.”
About six weeks later, CBS Information changed Mr. Cohen as senior producer of the “Night Information” political protection. He declined one other task and left the community.
Whereas at CBS, Mr. Cohen received two Emmy Awards for reporting on “The Night Information.” He received a 3rd in 1989 after returning to PBS, for a section of “The Public Thoughts With Invoice Moyers” in 1989. on the ability of photographs on information, politics and elections. His section was included in a four-part recording that received The Public Thoughts a Peabody Award.
After Mr. Cohen moved to CNN, he produced a documentary in 1992. for Invoice Clinton throughout his profitable presidential bid. Ended his producing profession within the mid-Nineteen Nineties at FX.
Along with Ms. Vieira, Mr. Cohen is survived by their daughter, Lily Cohen; their sons, Gabe and Ben; grandson; his brother Bernard; and his sister, Terri Cohen.
Mr. Cohen does not need folks to both really feel sorry for him or reward him for the best way he is coping with a number of sclerosis.
“Those that battle with critical sickness each day and refuse to turn into victims are continually mentioned to encourage the chronically wholesome.” he wrote in HuffPost in 2014. He added: “Let me set this straight. There aren’t any heroes, solely survivors. There aren’t any medals or benefit badges hanging from our chests.
