OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 15

16 | FEBRUARY 17 • 2022 

40 years, he had many significant and high-profile cases. In Doe v. 
University of Michigan (1989) he struck down a hate speech code his 
alma mater had instituted, saying it was vague, too broad and violat-
ed people’s First Amendment rights. In U.S. v. Jake Baker (1995) one 
of the first landmark cases involving free speech and the internet, he 
dismissed charges against a student who posted stories about raping, 
torturing and murdering women, saying there was no evidence Baker 
intended to commit a crime, and that he had a free speech right to his 
fantasies.
That ruling was bitterly denounced in some circles, but never 
reversed. Probably his most famous cases were the lawsuits that inter-
mittent windshield wiper inventor Robert Kearns filed against a series 
of auto manufacturers for infringing 
his patents. The story was made into a 
2008 movie, Flash of Genius. 
Though Cohn was famously 
hot-tempered on the bench, attorney 
Jules Olsman said “while the tone of 
his voice may have seemed harsh, 
Avern Cohn was not in any way 
mean-spirited or malevolent. I always 
found him to be deeply emphatic and 
determined to reach a result that was 
fair and just.
”
Avern Cohn said, in fact, that 
empathy was the key to understand-
ing his judicial philosophy. “Louis 
Brandeis said once that the core of his philosophy was ‘thinking about 
the other fella,
’ putting himself in the place of those before him on the 
bench.
”
“Well, ‘thinking about the other fella’ was what I tried to do. I may 
not have had a perfect heart — but I hope it won’t be said that I had an 
imperfect heart.
”
Nobody who knew Avern Cohn, now of blessed memory, would say 
he had anything but a giant intellect, and a heart to match. 

Avern Cohn was the beloved husband of Lois Pincus Cohn and the late 
Joyce Cohn; cherished father of Sheldon Cohn, Leslie Magy, and Thomas 
Cohn; also survived by Lois’ daughters, Lisa (Kent Kleinman) Pincus and 
Julie Pincus. He was the loving grampa of Harrison Magy, Ilyse Magy 
(Justin Hall), Daniel (fiancée Lauren Alexander) Magy, Bennett Magy, 
Hannah Magy, Jonathan Cohn, and Jeremy Cohn; proud great-grandfa-
ther of Delia Maghally and Emmett Maghally.
It is suggested that those who wish to further honor the memory 
of Judge Avern Cohn may do so by making a contribution to Jewish 
Historical Society of Michigan, 33228 W. 12 Mile #349, Farmington 
Hills, MI 48334, michjewishhistory.org/donate/tribute-donation; 
American Civil Liberties Union, 2966 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 
48201, aclumich.org; Detroit Symphony Orchestra, 3711 Woodward 
Ave., Detroit, MI 48201-2444, https://tickets.dso.org/support/donate; 
or to the Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan 
Law School.

Jack Lessenberry is the co-author and editor, with Elizabeth Zerwekh, of Thinking 

About the Other Fella: Avern Cohn’s Life and the Law. (Auld Classic Books, 2021)

His “first case.” Judge Cohn’s children present him with a case of 
Stroh’s beer at ceremonies celebrating his becoming a federal judge 
in 1979. 

Did You Know?

• Avern Cohn and his 
father, Irwin, were the 
first father-son recipients 
of the Fred M. Butzel 
Award for Distinguished 
Community Service: 
Irwin in 1961; Avern in 
1988.
• He was the founding chair of the Leonard N. 
Simons Jewish Community Archives.
• In 1965, he chaired the Yeshiva Beth 
Yehudah Building Committee.
• In 2000, he established a $1 million fund to 
benefit Orthodox Jewish education called the 
Samuel and Maly Cohn Millennium Fund, named 
for his paternal grandparents who died in 1936.
• In 2014, Avern and Lois Cohn received the 
Jewish Community Relations Council Activist 
award.

Thinking About 
‘the Other Fella’

Avern Cohn’s
 
Life and 
 
 
the Law

Jack Lessenberr
y and Elizabeth Zer
wekh

Thinking About ‘the Other Fella
’
 
Jack Lessenberr
y Elizabeth Zer
wekh

Jack Lessenberry has been 
a writer and editor and 
political analyst for numerous 
publications, has hosted 
radio and television shows 
and taught journalism for 
many years at Wayne State University and the 
University of Michigan. He is the author of 
T
 e People’s Lawyer: T
 e Life and Times of Frank 
J. Kelley, the Nation’s Longest-Serving Attorney 
General (Wayne State University Press, 2015) 
and Reason vs. Racism: A Newspaper Family, 
Race, and Justice (BCI Press, 2020).

Elizabeth Zerwekh is a pro-
fessional librarian and archi-
vist, specializing in rare books 
and private collections. She 
has worked with Judge Cohn 
for years, and in addition to 
this book, played a major role in researching 
Reason vs. Racism. 

T
 ey live in Huntington Woods and Charlevoix 
with their dogs Ashley and Chet, in homes 
overf
 owing with books. 

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said the core 
of his judicial philosophy was “you have to think about the other 
fellow.” By that, he meant you have to be devoted to justice, but also 
have empathy for the human beings whose cases come before you.

T
 ose words exactly describe Avern Cohn’s career throughout 
seventy years as a lawyer and federal judge during a life devoted to 
the law, justice and his community.

- Jack Lessenberry

Auld Classic Books
13165 Ludlow Ave.
Huntington Woods, MI 48070
Jacket design by Anne Zimanski

Jacket photographs courtesy of Avern Cohn

Printed in the U.S.A.

Judge Avern Cohn looks at an old photo of himself and his late wife, 
Joyce, participating in the 1963 Walk to Freedom.

