Priscilla Alden Duer Cohen of Sag Harbor and Manhattan, called Alden by those who knew her, died at home on Sullivan Street in Manhattan on March 12 after a brief illness. She was 96.
Ms. Cohen’s first job after graduating from college and studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, during which time she saw firsthand the devastation of World War II, was working at the United Nations in Manhattan. She had met Eleanor Roosevelt during her time at the Todhunter School (later absorbed by Dalton) and Mrs. Roosevelt was an esteemed role model for her, Ms. Cohen’s family said. They added that “learning from history and working together to make the world a more peaceful and just place” were the “informing anchors in her life.”
She was born on July 26, 1926, at MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens, a “wonderful secret-garden enclave in the heart of Greenwich Village,” her family said, and was one of two children of Leland Duer, a prominent lawyer, and Marjorie Driscoll. Her mother died when Ms. Cohen was 2 and her brother, John, five years older than she, died five years later. Her father hired a French nanny, Gertrude Lefebvre, who “essentially became a devoted mother to her,” said her family. She was educated at the Little Red Schoolhouse, Todhunter School, and the Wykeham Rise School, a boarding school. She earned a B.A. at Vassar College and did a year abroad at the Sorbonne.
MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens, where Ms. Cohen was born, was where she spent most of her life. Now a historic landmark, it was founded as an arts community in the late 1880s and became a model for other urban community experiments. She became a leader there and worked with others to promote a “caring and connected community,” said her son Jon. Even after she married Ira Cohen on Sept. 2, 1950, and began a family, she continued to be involved in political and social-justice efforts, in Greenwich Village, working with Ed Koch in the 1960s, working nationally for women’s rights, and through her work as an editor at Newsweek. Mr. Cohen died in 1988.
Ms. Cohen loved language and read voraciously. With Madeleine Edmondson, a fellow editor at Newsweek, she coauthored “The Women of Watergate” in 1975, and with Lynn Davis co-founded the literary agency Davis-Cohen Associates, which counted Sam Shepard and Lee Breuer among its clients.
Her family characterized her as “a force of nature — smart, stylish, opinionated, generous of herself to others, and a mentor to many.” She was a wonderful listener, they added, and extended herself with great warmth to her friends and loved ones. She gave legendary dinner parties, producing delicious food and high-level conversation. “People loved and appreciated Alden for her sound opinions, infectious laughter, her brassy and true self,” they said. As a dear friend of hers put it, “Alden was a classy, outspoken woman of her generation.”
Her children said they will miss her in ways that words cannot express.
Three of her four children and their spouses survive her: Jonathan Cohen of East Hampton, Douglas Cohen of New York City and Bridgehampton, and Priscilla Cohen of Arlington, Mass., and Sag Harbor. Her son Matthew L. Cohen died in 1988. Another person who was like a brother to her, Dorian Lefebvre of Hartford, Conn., died before her. She also leaves seven grandchildren.
The family gathered at her burial on March 19 at Chevra Kodetia Cemetery in Sag Harbor. They have suggested donations to the John Jermain Memorial Library, attention: Kelly Harris, director, 201 Main Street, Sag Harbor 11963.
