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Robert Benjamin Cohen (May 26, 1925 – February 1, 2012) was an American businessman and founder of Hudson News, a chain of Newsstands and stores located primarily in American airports and train stations. Cohen grew the Hudson News into the world's largest airport newsstand retailer from a single location he opened in
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
in 1987. The Hudson News chain is now part of the larger Hudson Group retailer. There are approximately 600 Hudson News locations throughout the United States, as of 2012. Most are located in transportation hubs, including a 1,000-square-foot store in
Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.


Biography


Early life

Cohen was born in
Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As ...
, to Isaac and Lillian Goodman Cohen on May 26, 1925. His father had previously run a newspaper delivery route and newsstand in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York. In the early 1920s, Isaac Cohen founded a newspaper distributor, the Bayonne News Company. Robert Cohen earned his
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...
from
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...
(NYU) in 1947. Cohen played on the NYU Violets
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
team in college and his teammates included
Dolph Schayes Adolph Schayes (May 19, 1928 – December 10, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A top scorer and rebounder, he was a 12-time NBA All-Star and a 12-time All-NBA selection. ...
. In 1947, the same year that he earned his bachelor's degree, Cohen married his wife, the former Harriet Brandwein.


Newspaper and magazine distributorship

Cohen took control of his father's newspaper and magazine distribution company, the Hudson County News Company, shortly after graduation from NYU. Cohen focused much of his career (prior to founding Hudson News) on the expansion of his newspaper
distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics * Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
business, Hudson County News Company, into one of the largest of its kind in the United States. He served as president of Hudson County News Company. By the 1970s and 1980s, Cohen had grown the business into one of the largest magazine distributorships and wholesalers in the United States, focusing on the
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and New York City
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...
s. Cohen found himself in legal trouble for business practices during the early 1980s. In 1981, Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to paying
Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union The Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union is an independent union for employees of newspapers based in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In 2009, for the first time in its history, The union affiliated with another, choosing the International B ...
officials $37,000 in exchange for favorable treatment in dealings between the union and his companies. He was fined $150,000 as part of the
guilty plea In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a criminal case under common law using the adversarial system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in respons ...
. Cohen acquired the Metropolitan News Company, the regional distributor of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' in 1985 in a partnership with ''The New York Times''. Cohen also acquired Newark Newsdealers which, again, was part of a partnership with
The New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City. History The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. ...
. Robert Cohen sold his interest of the distributorship and his companies to the New York Times Company in 1994. Cohen owned Worldwide Media Service Inc., which is the largest newsstand distributor of American magazines outside of the United States, from 1985 until 2003.


Hudson News

During the mid-1970s, Robert Cohen's Hudson County News Company acquired a bankrupt newsstand at
Newark International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Cou ...
, which marked his entrance into the retail sector. The newsstand had purchased magazines from Cohen's Hudson County News Company before it went into bankruptcy. The
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...
, which operates Newark International Airport and other transit hubs in the New York City area, asked Cohen to take control of the airport newsstand when it closed. At the time of the purchase in the 1970s, airport newsstands were described as very small, usually carrying only a limited selection of newspapers, magazines and other
periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also exampl ...
. Cohen envisioned a larger, more modern, well lit news stores to replace the tiny, dim newsstands and
kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist in a ...
s. In 1987, Cohen opened the first Hudson News store in
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
in New York City. Hudson News stores featured a wide selection of hundreds of domestic and foreign publications, whose covers were fully displayed, allowing customers to easily browse the selection. The stores featured bright, inviting lighting and wide aisles, in contrast to other, cramped airport newsstands. Cohen called the layout for his new Hudson News store a "new-concept newsstand." The La Guardia location became the model for future Hudson News locations. Robert Cohen's son, James Cohen, succeeded his father as the president of the Hudson Group, which operates Hudson News. In 2008, Robert Cohen sold his majority stake in Hudson News to
Dufry Dufry AG is a Swiss-based travel retailer which operates duty-free and duty-paid shops and convenience stores in airports, cruise lines, seaports, railway stations and central tourist areas. The company, headquartered in Basel, employs almost 36, ...
of
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, one of the largest operators of
duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...
stores in the world.


Personal life

Outside of business, Cohen took a keen interest in
racehorses Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
. His best known horse, Hudson County, finished second in the
Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...
in 1974, just behind race winner,
Cannonade Cannonade (May 12, 1971 – August 3, 1993) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known as the winner of the 1974 Kentucky Derby. Background Owned and bred by prominent businessman John M. Olin, Cannonade was foaled at Gainesway Farm in L ...
. Cohen had paid $6,700 for Hudson County before the Derby. Robert Cohen died at the age of 86 at his home in
Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intrac ...
, on February 1, 2012, of
progressive supranuclear palsy Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a late-onset degenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific volumes of the brain. The condition leads to symptoms including loss of balance, slowing of movement, difficulty ...
, a
neurological disorder A neurological disorder is any disorder of the nervous system. Structural, biochemical or electrical abnormalities in the brain, spinal cord or other nerves can result in a range of symptoms. Examples of symptoms include paralysis, muscle weakn ...
. He was survived by his wife, Harriet; son, James; six grandchildren; and his sister, Rosalind Stone. He was predeceased by two children, gossip columnist
Claudia Cohen Claudia Lynn Cohen (December 16, 1950 – June 15, 2007) was an American gossip columnist, socialite, and television reporter. She is credited with putting the New York Post's Page Six gossip column on the map. The building housing the Unive ...
and Michael Cohen, who died in 1997. A memorial service was held at the
Bergen Performing Arts Center The Bergen Performing Arts Center (BergenPAC) is a not-for-profit theater in Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Engl ...
in
Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from po ...
, where he and his family were longtime residents.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Robert B. 1925 births 2012 deaths American businesspeople Basketball players from New Jersey NYU Violets men's basketball players People from Bayonne, New Jersey People from Englewood, New Jersey People from Palm Beach, Florida Sportspeople from Hudson County, New Jersey American men's basketball players