Business Reporter Stanley Cohen, a Platinum Owl, Dies at Age 93

Stanley Cohen, a business journalist and Platinum Owl, died May 6 of renal failure. He was 93.

“He was upstairs at the Press Club a lot,” said Debra Silimeo, his daughter-in-law and a Club member.

He would often take Silimeo's husband, Daniel Cohen, to Club-sponsored father and son baseball nights, she said.

Cohen organized 73 luncheons as chair of the Speakers Committee in 1982. Guests included Indira Gandhi of India, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines.

“He was extraordinary in his ability to have interesting conversations with such a wide range of people, and he loved it,” said Vivian Vahlberg, Club president when Cohen chaired the Speakers Committee.

Cohen also participated on other committees, including Budget, Awards and Forums.

“He certainly took great joy in the fact that I was so actively involved in the Press Club because it was such an important part of his life,” said Silimeo, who now serves on the Speakers Committee.

An elevator ride away from the Club was Cohen’s Advertising Age office, where he was the Washington editor from 1943-1984. He retired as a corporate vice president of Crain Communications, the publisher of Advertising Age, in 1987.

At Cohen’s Washington funeral, Rance Crain, the editor-in-chief of Advertising Age, praised Cohen for courageously advocating for truth in advertising. He said it influenced Crain’s attitude towards business journalism.

Known as the dean of consumer journalism for his award-winning coverage of excessive or false advertising claims, Cohen’s articles and editorial columns resulted in the creation of an advertising-industry-sponsored review panel that self-regulated commercials, said Rick Gordon, who worked with Cohen for 10 years.

“Stan taught me lessons about thoroughness, about integrity, about perseverance and what high standards in journalism really are,” Gordon said.

Cohen closely followed the news following his retirement, Silimeo said. She said she remembered “amazing dinner conversations” about the media’s coverage of the issues of the day, and his frequent letters to the editor of the Washington Post.

Donald Graham, the Post's chairman, took notice, Silimeo said.

“On his 90th birthday, we got a letter from Donald Graham saying that he was published more than two dozen times,” Silimeo said.

Cohen is survived by his wife Esther Delaplaine; two sons, Edward and Daniel Cohen; 13 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. He was formerly married to the late Marjorie Barth Cohen. His daughter, Sarah Betsy Fuller, preceded him in death.