Who was Mendes Cohen? There is an exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Maryland about the man who some refer to as a Forrest Gump of the 19th century. Mr. Cohen had a knack for being at or near some pretty important places and events during his extraordinary life. He was in the battle of Baltimore at Fort McHenry. He was in Paris just before the June rebellion, the event memorialized in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. And, his family’s business helped build the Washington Monument in Mt. Vernon, the neighborhood in which Mr. Cohen lived until his death in 1879. Tom Hall talks about the life of Mendes Cohen with the Jewish Museum’s executive director, Marvin Pinkert.
You can learn more about the exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Maryland website.
