Are you okay, Darling? Those were amongst the final words spoken by Richard Walter
Cogan earlier this week, shortly before he died just two weeks shy of his 90 th birthday.
As any of his many friends at Brookdale Senior Living Center in West Orange, NJ, will
say, for the past few years while his memory was fading, many times a day he'd turn to
Barbara, his beloved wife of 67 years, tenderly caress her hand, and check to see if she
was comfortable and well cared for.
Richard was a voracious reader, loved playing classical music on his piano, and adored
everything about opera. Along with Barbara, they spent many summer vacations taking
in performances in the world's greatest opera houses. His unusual intellect drove him
to devour books of widely varied topics and styles and he took great pleasure
comparing notes with others.
Born in New York City on April 24, 1934, and raised in Closter, NJ, he graduated with a
BA from Rutgers University in 1956 (and finding his soon-to-be wife at nearby Douglass
College) and went on to earn a master's degree from Columbia University, with
additional studies at Northeastern University.
His logical mind, gentle temperament and patient manner made him an ideal
elementary school teacher. His upwardly mobile career took him to several schools in
New Jersey and New York, and then to Morocco and France, and eventually to the
environs of Boston, Massachusetts, where he became an innovative school principal in
Billerica. He retired in 1998.
Richard, formerly of Montclair, NJ, Wilmington, MA and Brookline, MA, is survived by his
adoring wife, Barbara, and sons, Kevin (Sparks, NV) and Christopher (Boca Raton, FL),
and their wives Elizabeth and Sherry, respectively. He is also survived by his sisters-in-
law, Linda Festa and Pat Roelke and brother-in-law Gary Roelke as well as many
nieces and nephews.
Services were private. Arrangements by Caggiano Memorial, Montclair,NJ.
If you care to make a memorial donation, the family suggests you consider the place to
which they donated many hours of volunteer activity:
ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts
One Center Place
Suite 850
Boston, MA 02108