Maryland's SHERO Awards

Suzanne F. Cohen, President of the Nathan and Suzanne Cohen Foundation, is a leading philanthropist and activist in the Jewish and general communities.

Since graduating from Goucher, she has been involved with THE ASSOCIATED; Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, which she has served as chair of the Board of Directors, and chair of the Board of Governors of the Legacy and Endowment Fund.  She currently sits as a Life Member of the Board of Directors and chairs the Center for Funds and Foundations and The Associated Institute. 

Mrs. Cohen is also a past president of the Baltimore Jewish Council---the community relations agency of The ASSOCIATED.  Beyond these positions, a sampling of her philanthropic activities reveals the broad scope of Mrs. Cohen’s interests and concerns: immediate past chair of the Baltimore Museum of Art and current member of its Executive Committee and Board of Trustees, Trustee emeritus of Goucher College, honorary Trustee of the Baltimore Community Foundation and member of the Board of Directors of the Open Society Institute-Baltimore.

Throughout her philanthropic career, Mrs. Cohen has stepped forward to recognize and respond to community needs.  At the Baltimore Museum of Art, she established the Cohen Family Fund for Free Admission---her proudest accomplishment, the Cohen Foundation Gallery and the Suzanne F. Cohen Exhibition Fund.  She created and provided major funding for several Baltimore Community Foundation initiatives for populations at risk---notably “A Teams”---after school academic, arts and athletic leagues for thousands of middle school kids.

As recognition of her support for these innovative programs and decades of dedicated community service, Suzanne F. Cohen was twice named as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by THE DAILY RECORD and the 1999 Philanthropist of the Year by the National Society of Fundraising Professionals. 

She has also received the Enoch Pratt Free Library Distinguished Benefactor Award, and the Goucher College AAGC Award for Excellence in Public Service plus numerous other awards and honors.