Cohen, William S. (William Sebastian), 1940-

<p>William Sebastian Cohen was born on August 28, 1940 in Bangor, Maine. His parents, Reuben and Clara Cohen, were respected small business owners in the Bangor community. The Cohens founded the Bangor Rye Bakery Co. in the 1920s and served “the best rolls in town” to the restaurants and general public until “Ruby’s” death in 1995. Bangor Rye, to this day is considered “a city institution… that is as famous for its challah, sub rolls, bulkees and hard rolls as it is for the family that owned and operated it for decades.”</p>

<p>Secretary Cohen credited education and sports for teaching him the fundamentals of leadership. In a 2013 speech before a group of William S. Cohen Middle School students, Cohen noted that, “education is the key to everything in life… [It] is like lighting a flame in your mind.” Sports, according to Cohen, taught him the discipline required to excel.</p>

<p>An accomplished student and athlete, Cohen graduated from Bangor High School in 1958, and from Bowdoin College in 1962 with an A.B. cum laude in Latin. He was named to Maine All-State high school and college basketball teams and also inducted into the New England All-Star Hall of Fame and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame. According to Cohen, he discovered his love of poetry when he tried to explain to his college English professor that he should be excused from a class assignment to write a sonnet because he was an athlete, and as such, not a poet. Fortunately, his professor did not buy his argument, and a young Bill Cohen stumbled upon a new talent and passion, eventually becoming a published author of several works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.</p>

<p>William Sebastian Cohen (born August 28, 1940) is an American politician, lawyer and author from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as both a member of the United States House of Representatives (1973–1979) and Senate (1979–1997), and as Secretary of Defense (1997–2001) under Democratic President Bill Clinton.</p>

<p>Described as "a Republican moderate from Maine, something of a maverick centrist" by David Halberstam, Cohen had very good working relations with President Clinton and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and "almost ideal" collaboration with the Joint Chiefs of Staff; however, he often clashed with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, whom he saw as "a grandstander, too outspoken on policy matters and too eager to use military force.</p>

<p>Cohen was born in Bangor, Maine. His mother, Clara (née Hartley), was of Protestant Irish ancestry, and his father, Reuben Cohen, was born in New York and was the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant; the two owned the Bangor Rye Bread Co.</p>

COHEN, William Sebastian, a Representative and a Senator from Maine; born in Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine, August 28, 1940; attended the public schools; graduated, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, 1962; graduated, Boston University Law School 1965; admitted to the Maine bar in 1965 and commenced practice in Bangor; instructor, University of Maine 1968-1972; assistant county attorney, Penobscot County 1968-1970; member, Bangor City Council 1969-1972; member, Bangor School Board 1970-1971; mayor, city of Bangor 1971-1972; author; elected as a Republican to the Ninety-third Congress in 1972; reelected to the Ninety-fourth and Ninety-fifth Congresses (January 3, 1973-January 3, 1979); was not a candidate for reelection to the House of Representatives, but was elected in 1978 to the United States Senate; reelected in 1984 and again in 1990 and served from January 3, 1979, to January 3, 1997; not a candidate for reelection in 1996; chairman, Select Committee on Indian Affairs (Ninety-seventh Congress); Special Committee on Aging (One Hundred Fourth Congress); Secretary of Defense in the Cabinet of President William Jefferson Clinton, 1997-2001; Chairman and CEO, The Cohen Group 2001-.