Harry Pye Cohany was born on August 12, 1921, in Saratov, Russia, to Sonya and Benno Katz. A few months later, the family returned to their home in Memel, a small German-speaking principality, now Klaipeda, Lithuania. He spent his childhood there, playing on the large sand dunes, sparring with his older brother Willy, excelling in school, surrounded by a large extended family.
This relatively idyllic upbringing was not to last. In his high school years he wasn’t allowed to attend school, and there were other ominous signs. Brother Willy had emigrated to what was then Palestine. Harry knew he too had to leave home. Sponsored by aunts in Houston and New York, in 1939, he sailed on his own to New York, and supported himself with a variety of jobs, including farmhand on dairy and produce farms in New Jersey and New York, shipping clerk in Manhattan, and machine tool apprentice in Houston.
Harry was inducted into the Ninth Army Air Force in Houston in September 1942. He was trained as a radio mechanic and served proudly during the war in France, Belgium, and England. Tragically, the Holocaust took his parents. His freedom fighter brother become a Haifa City Council member and the patriarch of a beautiful family.
After his discharge in October 1945, Harry worked diligently to speak and write perfect English. The GI Bill took him to the New School for Social Research, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in two years, and to the University of Tennessee for a Master’s in economics. He knew labor economics was his calling, and after a brief stint at the National Labor Relations Board was hired by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New York Regional Office. He worked as a field economist for 4 years, collecting wage data from businesses. In 1955, he transferred to the Washington Office, where he rose to be Chief of the Division of Industrial Relations and the author of many articles and monographs on union history, leadership, membership, strikes, and bargaining agreements. In 1967 Harry was chosen for a fellowship at Harvard University, and the family moved to the Boston area while he earned a Master’s in Public Administration.
Back in New York, while attending the New School, Harry met a fellow immigrant named Reeva, and they were married in June 1951, starting out in Greenwich Village and moving to Stuyvesant Town shortly before daughter Sharon was born. Daughter Janet was born after the move to Washington. Harry’s life was work and family, imparting his love of learning and all things Jewish and American, and above all his enthusiasm for life, to his children; he was a source of humor, knowledge, and stimulating conversation to his co-workers and friends.
After retiring in 1981, Harry was an adjunct professor at Towson University, George Mason University, and other DC area colleges. He was a volunteer arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau. Harry and Reeva traveled every summer to visit family in New York and Boston, and went further afield in retirement, especially to the western national parks and Israel. He astounded with his memory of people, places, and current events worldwide. He was an enthusiastic traveler and nature photographer, avid reader, leader of many memorable Passover seders, cherished father, grandfather, colleague, friend. He found his own way in the world with smarts and courage and hard work, to much success and fulfillment.
Harry passed away on Saturday, December 8, 2018, at the age of 97. A resident of Kensington, Maryland, for 58 years, he is survived by his wife of 67 years, Reeva, daughters Sharon (Glen Richardson) and Janet (the late Mark) Eackloff, grandchildren David and Miriam Eackloff, and nieces and nephews in the U.S. and Israel and their families. Services were previously held.
The family would be grateful for donations to Congregation Har Tzeon-Agudath Achim, 1840 University Blvd. West, Silver Spring, MD 20902; Congregation Adat Reyim, 6500 Westbury Oaks Court, Springfield, VA 22152; or Perry School Community Services Center, 128 M Street NW #100, Washington, DC 20001.
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