Steve M. Cohen - R.I.P.

[alxjhnsn]

I don't know how many people on this board knew Steve Cohen, but if you did, you're sure to miss his unbelievably positive attitude. Steve had a ton of challenges in his life, but it never seemed to get him down. He was always ready to offer an encouraging word. He was my friend and I'm going to miss him.

 

His FB page is: https://www.facebook.com/steven.m.cohen?fref=ts

 

My remembrance of Steve:

I lost a friend today - Steve M. Cohen.

 

I first "met" Steve on the Yahoo! comicart-l mailing list - airboy02 which I later learned tied to his air tank. We shared a common interest in comics and comic art and corresponded for a bit. Later, he moved to FB as his primary communication vehicle.

 

I travel to Foxboro, MA frequently on business and had dinner with Steve on a couple of occasions. One trip, I had to spend the weekend and was trying to figure out what I might do when Fred Hembeck posted that he was going to do a signing in New Paltz, NY which was only a few hours away. So, I got in touch with Steve and asked if he'd like to go with me. He agreed and gave me his new address. He'd moved into the family home after his mother passed.

 

The morning of the signing, I drove up to his house and met Susan and their dog (okay, their first dog). Steve warned me that we'd have to change air bottles on the trip - roughly every 4 hours, but I wasn't too worried. We got loaded up and headed out I-95.

 

We got to New Paltz after about 4 hours (you can see picks here -https://www.facebook.com/alxjhnsn/media_set…) and waited in line for the signing to start. We were in line when we realized that we didn't have anything to sign! So, I walked over to the grocery across the street and bought some spiral bound note card books and two pens! Now, we were set!

 

Did you notice anything missing? Yep, we forgot to change air bottles. No problem at this point, but …

 

We went downstairs using the stairs (no elevators!) and visited with everyone; it was a lot of fun.

 

However, at that point, Steve's air had given out. We needed to get upstairs and get after that bottle. After some struggle, we got in the car and crossed the street to go to a restaurant. I changed the bottle - easy - and we went in. We had lunch and Steve felt a lot better. It was still early and the signing was on so like true comic fans we went back for seconds.

 

More visiting. Finally, about 3pm it was time to go. Back in the car. I decided to take I-90 back for variety. We start driving. After a couple of hours, we take a break at a truck stop and buy some food and fill the car up. Then we get back in the car for the final 2 hours home.

 

Did you notice what we didn't do? Yep, we forgot the bottle again.

 

We talked all the way back and as we got close, I asked Steve for directions, but he was a little unsure. I had an iPhone, but it wasn't a GPS in those days - just a map. After some struggle, we both realize two things. We are home and we'd forgotten the darn bottle again.

 

He was fine and we have laughed about it several times since.

 

And that's my point - Steve was as happy and nice as anyone I've ever known and he had far more reasons to not be that way than reasons to be that way. He had a tough row to hoe, but he did it and had a great time doing it.

 

I'm going to miss you Steve.

[Bronty]

RIP Steve

[NelsonAI]

Condolences to his family and friends.

 

N.

[Terry Doyle]

I remember Steve from Comicart-l. Always came across in his posts as a nice friendly guy (despite the difficulties life threw at him). Sorry to hear that he's no longer with us. R.I.P., Steve.