Irwin (Irv) Cohen

Irwin (Irv) Howard Cohen passed away in the early hours of July 4, 2021 at his home in southwest Denver surrounded by his family. Irv was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1931. He almost made his goal of making it to 90. He is survived by his wife, Addie; his 4 children, Marcia (Cisco), Lori, Doug, and Bob (Becky); 11 grandchildren; and 11 great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents, Tillie (Perstein) Cohen and George D Cohen; and his sister Phyllis (Cohen) Dietz.

He grew up in Brooklyn, NY and received his bachelors at the City College of New York, his Masters Degree at Brooklyn College, and his PhD in Psychology from Michigan State University.

After completing his Psychology Internships at a girls school in Michigan, and the school for pregnant teens in Iowa, he had a 30 plus year career as a psychologist taking care of veterans at the VA hospital in Denver and helping develop the careers of interns who had studied psychology. He was active in forming psychological associations in Colorado. He also had a small private practice as well, testing for SSI.   Irv enjoyed his coworkers, treating patients and the interns.

He loved spending time with his children and spent many Saturdays and Sundays taking them to cultural or nature museums, botanic gardens, the zoo etc. He wanted to introduce them to various opportunities and so spent vacations either in the mountains, traveling the western United States or touring local area businesses such as Jolly Ranchers (when it was located in Colorado). When grandchildren came along, he liked to take them to see unique things such as the Clydesdale Horses at the Budweiser plant. He had a life-long love of photography and documented his kids as well as his grandkids lives through the camera lense leaving a great pictoral history of everyone’s lives.

Upon retirement he volunteered extensive hours at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal where he narrated bus tours about the arsenal cleanup and its extensive wildlife and also volunteered at the Lookout Mountain Nature Center where he gave talks on the lifecycle and importance of the Monarch Butterfly and passed out treats at Halloween dressed as a bear. He planted milkweed, the favorite food of the Monarch, in his yard and had his home designated as a Monarch stop off point on their migration from Mexico to Canada and back. He also loved birds and he and Addie traveled throughout the US seeking birds and completing their birder lists. In his volunteer work and on birder trips he extended his love of taking pictures as a wildlife photographer and he enjoyed giving everyone pictures of birds and the wildlife that frequented his extensive bird feeders.

He loved entertaining people and telling humorous stories. He loved to banter words about, and was never at a loss for words with his study of words, speeches, jokes, and quips. The last 8 years of his life he battled dementia that limited his ability to entertain people outside the home, but he never stopped telling stories. He made a strong impression on everyone he came across.  He was loved by and is missed by many.

He has requested that donations be made to: Lookout Mountain Nature Center, 987 Lookout Mountain Road, Golden, CO 80401.

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