Cohen, Barbara, 1932-1992

Barbara Cohen was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on March 15, 1932 After Somerville High, Cohen attended Barnard College. She graduated from Barnard magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1954 with a BA in English and a concentration in creative writing. She married Gene Cohen in 1954 and while he joined her mother in running the now bustling inn, she earned her MA from Rutgers University in 1957, had three daughters (Leah, 1957; Sara, 1962; and Rebecca, 1963), and taught high school English in Tenafly, Somerville, and Hillsborough, New Jersey. Active in community and Jewish life, her only writing for many years was a column “Books and Things” published in New Jersey papers. Cohen’s first picture book, The Carp In The Bathtub (1972) was published when she was 39 years old. The praise it received inspired her to stop teaching and write full time but she never anticipated that her simple story of two children trying to rescue a fish named Joe from his destined place in the seder meal would become a much loved modern classic. It is anthologized in hundreds of fourth grade readers and has been translated into many languages. To the end, Barbara Cohen had a story to tell. She died of cancer on November 29, 1992, leaving behind books since published posthumously and a fine new crop of young women writers she helped inspire.

Barbara Cohen (1932–1992) was an American author of children's literature.

Personal life
Cohen graduated from Barnard College (BA, 1954) and from Rutgers University (MA, 1957). She taught high school English in several cities in New Jersey, and wrote a long-running newspaper column entitled "Books and Things." She and her husband Gene had three daughters, Leah, Sara, and Rebecca.[1]

She was a resident of Bridgewater Township, New Jersey.[2]

Barbara Cohen was born in New Jersey in 1932. She was an educator and author of books for both adults and children. She worked as a teacher in New Jersey before she published her first book in 1972, The Carp in the Bathtub. Cohen died of cancer in 1992.