Citizen Jerry Cohen: A Jewish life in Kansas City

The life of Jerry Cohen needs to be told because his story is that of hundreds of other Jews who overcame anti-Semitic prejudice and other obstacles it left in its wake to make the United States a better nation from their very presence. Cohen is proud of his heritage and is at the same time grateful for the American way of life that allowed him the freedom to make the major contributions of his life to his community. Perhaps best known for his role of the spirit of Christmas in his role of 40 years a chairman of the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund, a fund-raising effort held annually during the holidays to help make the season a little cheerier for the less fortunate. He also left his mark on countless other activities from the Starlight Theater to a variety of children's charities. Cohen and his wife, Jeannette, are products of the great flood of Jews who left Russia and Eastern Europe in the 1880's and 1890's to escape persecution and become a part of the American Dream of instant riches for those who had the drive and the intelligence to seek them.