Community campus named for Maureen and Doug Cohn

A place for Jewish community members to gather has always been important to Maureen and Doug Cohn, ever since they went to the same school in their native Omaha, NE. It isn’t Central High School that the Cohns remember so much, although it was the public school most Jewish students attended. What is best remembered is the fact that the Jewish Community Center, in those days, was right across the street from Central High, and Jewish students headed there after class each day.

The young people were divided up into clubs by age, with girls in some, boys in others.

“Doug’s group was up on stage and it was one of those ‘across a crowded room situations’. I asked my youth group counselor if she knew him and would she introduce us,” Maureen Cohn said. “It turned out she was his sister.”

That’s why the Cohns always tell people they met at the JCC, and the point from which they consider their life together was beshert.

Although they went their separate ways after high school, several years later they were both in Chicago and happened to meet again, fall in love and marry.

The couple moved to Tampa in 1970.

They never forgot what the Jewish community and the JCC meant to them, and as they prospered, their commitment and philanthropy grew.

“Doug and I care extremely about the community, and the campus for us is the central headquarters of the community. Everybody who grew up in a community that had a JCC and a federation understands that,” Maureen Cohn said.

Doug Cohn added, “But I think the key is that someone planted the seed for us, and we want to plant the seed for those who want it in the future. It’s so important to continue the legacy of a Jewish central headquarters.”

Consequently, they made a generous capstone gift to the Federation’s Legacy Initiative.

In recognition of that gift and in honor of their longtime personal and philanthropy commitment, the JCC & Federation has renamed its Jewish Community Campus.

The new name, first announced at the President’s Dinner in January, is the Maureen and Douglas Cohn Community Campus.

The 23-acre property is home to the Tampa Jewish Community Center, the Tampa Jewish Federation, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Village Assisted Living Facility, Tampa Jewish Family Services, and the Tampa Orlando Pinellas Jewish Foundation.

It was the Cohns’ involvement in the Jewish community that initially led to the purchase of the property on Gunn Highway that became the community campus, and allowed the JCC & Federation to move from its small facilities in South Tampa.

The JCC & Federation recently began to implement the new name internally, and the official public launch of the naming will be done in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the communitywide Israel Independence Day celebration on Sunday, April 25.

Community members will be able to make contributions in honor of the Cohns in advance of the celebration as well as at the event, which will be held onsite at the Cohn Community Campus.

The Cohns have both served in a multitude of roles within and outside of the Jewish community. They are active with the Tampa Museum of Art, St. Leo’s College, Weinberg Village, and much more.

Doug Cohn serves as the owner and CEO of Tampa Bay Trane.

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To learn more about the Legacy Initiative or how you can honor the Cohns with a tribute gift, contact Emilie Kuperman, at emilie.Kuperman@jewishtampa.com or (813)769-2809.