By Jeff LaHurd
David Cohen (left) and city manager, Ken Thompson (right)
David Cohen arrived in Sarasota as a winter visitor in the mid-1930s, moving permanently with his wife, the former Eleene Levinson, a Sarasota girl, in 1948. The couple had been living in Petoskey, Michigan, where a newspaper reported that David was “an official with a cigar company.”
Soon after moving to Sarasota, he bought the Smith Candy Company. Eleene and her brother operated the Levinson family’s popular Sport Shop, “for Sports Wear and Everywhere,” at Five Points where the First Watch is today.
Both stores were hugely successful; Smith Candy evolved, through “hard work seven days a week for 30 years” into the Smith Specialty Co. When he sold the business in 1978 sales topped $10 million, employing 80. The Sport Shop continued to be a downtown mainstay.
It was not due to his business savvy that Cohen became dubbed, “Mister Sarasota,” a title he shared with pioneer settler A.B. Edwards, the city’s first mayor.
Cohen had been a child prodigy violinist who graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. At 15 years of age, he gave his first professional recital. For her part, Eleene, who shared David’s love of music, was a first-class pianist, singer, and cellist, who played the cello for the Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra.
Soon after he came to Sarasota, Cohen combined his musical talent with his business acumen to bolster the community’s quest to become known as the Cultural Hub of the Gulf Coast.
Additionally, he became a major civic leader and respected politician, elected to the city commission in 1960 for the first of three terms, and served as mayor twice.
During his tenure, he pushed for the passage of the comprehensive 1964 Bond Resolution. Cohen was quoted as saying that the passage of the 8-point Bond was “critical for the city.” The Bond underscored Sarasota’s continued efforts toward post-war modernization following the re-routing of U.S. 41 along the Sarasota Bayfront, the new John Ringling Causeway, and the development of Bird Key by the ARVIDA Corporation.
This was a major city-wide initiative that led to the construction of a much-needed city hall building, the updating of the storied Lido Casino (which did not happen), and the construction of the Newtown Recreation Center for the segregated African American community.
Most importantly for the city’s art reputation, a provision of the bond called for the construction of the Eugenia and Lewis Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, which became an immediate icon, greatly enhancing Sarasota’s cultural reputation.
Construction underway in 1969 for the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall which would open with Fiddler on the Roof.
On opening night, Mayor Betz credited David Cohen “as the man who conceived the building.”
“This is a great day for Sarasota and citizens of the county and other surrounding areas. This building exemplifies the character of the citizens and of the community perhaps more than any other structure,” Betz continued.
Coincidentally for Cohen, previously dubbed “a fiddler at heart,” the opening performance at the shell-inspired hall was “Fiddler on the Roof.”
On May 14, 1969, Cohen was honored by the city commission when he was appointed as a life member of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Committee formed to oversee the hall’s operation and activities.
Before the Bond’s passage, city hall was still in the Hover Arcade on the municipal pier, well past its prime, and labeled obsolete. Space was at a premium and commissioners crowded together in one office.
The replacement building, still in use on First Street, is a Sarasota School of Architecture design by Jack West, with the telling and prophetic, Jack Cartlidge statue, “Nobody’s Listening” at the entrance.
The Cohens were fans of Sarasota’s Modernist architects like West. Their Siesta Key bayou home was designed by Paul Rudolph, one of the superstars of the Sarasota School of Architecture and future chair of Yale University’s Department of Architecture.
In 1956 the home (and Sarasota) was given national recognition by a full-color pictorial article in the popular Woman’s Home Companion.
On November 20, 1965, the Sarasota Herald announced that Mayor Cohen was awarded by the Florida Association of Architects at their 51st convention as “an outstanding citizen of Florida.” He was among several Floridians chosen for “their efforts to lessen the growing tendency toward urban ugliness throughout the United States and for their progressive outlook on community needs.”
Tollyn Twitchell, the Sarasota architect who presented the award, said “he is a symbol and a salesman of all the arts in Sarasota. He is a gentleman whose every act symbolizes exactly what we are here for today.”
Indeed, Cohen had become the face of Sarasota’s arts community, taking the city’s reputation to another level. He was a founding member of the Florida West Coast Symphony, today’s Sarasota Symphony Orchestra, he played first violin and initially helped underwrite the organization of talented musicians. He also founded the Symphony Chamber Music Society.
Cohen broke ground on June 4, 1975, for the Symphony’s expansion with the addition of the David Cohen Rehearsal Hall. After pushing the shovel into the ground, he told the three hundred music lovers looking on, “this is where our young people will learn music.”
As always, the maestro shared credit for the success of the symphony he once helped found and led as business manager, concertmaster, and assistant conductor. He was embarrassed when he learned the hall would be named in his honor, saying the Florida West Coast Symphony’s popularity was “a result of a terrific mix of people who appreciate culture.”
On October 26, 1971, Cohen was named Citizen of the Year by Sarasota Bay Post No. 30, singling Cohen out for his many contributions in an impressive, well-attended ceremony at today’s Rev. J.D. Hamel Park across from the downtown Bayfront.
After Cohen passed away on October 4, 1999, he was recognized for the tremendous work he had accomplished for his adopted community.
On October 19, 1999, an appreciative city commission issued Resolution 99R-1220, a Sarasota proclamation honoring David Cohen for his untiring work which pushed Sarasota to the forefront of Florida culture.
For Cohen, fine music as part of the arts, would provide Sarasota with drawing power. “Good music, played well, will be enjoyed by everyone.”
Jeff LaHurd grew up in Sarasota and is an award-winning author and lecturer. He has written over a dozen books about Sarasota, and numerous columns in the local publications. Jeff currently serves on the board of the Sarasota Historical Society and is a former board member of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation.