JEWISH RHODE ISLAND's

Photographer Marshall Cohen recognized for service

THE AMERICAN Scandinavian Association awarded longtime National Press Club photographer Marshall H. Cohen its prestigious Henry Hanson Award on May 22 in recognition of his outstanding service to the association and the Nordic community. The award, named for one of the ASA’s original founders, is presented annually.

Cohen is a past president and vice president of the American Scandinavian Association and serves currently as an ex officio member of its board of directors. Cohen founded the NPC’s Photography Committee in 2001, and has photographed world-class newsmakers for 42 years. He was accredited to the White House for 12 years during both the President George H.W. Bush and the William J. Clinton administrations. He also submitted newsmaker photographs to a variety of international and national news sources including Jewish Rhode Island. Cohen is a graduate of Pawtucket West High School, Brown University and Georgetown University. He is the son of the late Samuel and Lucy Cohen of Pawtucket.

This Month in History

A New Chapter

In 1966, Congregation Beth David in Narragansett celebrated its new Torah scroll, which has been housed in the synagogue ever since. The ceremony was a landmark one: Congregation Beth David had only moved into its permanent home – at 102 Kingstown Road – two years earlier. To receive “the five books of Moses, hand letter in Hebrew on a roll of parchment” punctuated the founding of the congregation. The event included a procession, a huppah, a band, a children’s chorus, and a Torah service hosted by Rabbi David Yehuda, then-dean of the Providence Hebrew Day School. The full list of participants reads like a who’s-who of rabbis and community leaders of the time.

Newspaper courtesy Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association