Zipporah Michelbacher Cohen (13 December 1853–20 August 1944), association and civic leader, was born in Richmond and was the daughter of Maximilian Joseph Michelbacher, the first religious leader of Congregation Beth Ahabah, and his second wife, Miriam Angle Michelbacher. She was educated at her father's synagogue school and at a school for girls, probably in Richmond. On 25 February 1875 she married Samuel Cohen, director of the Cohen Company, a Richmond department store his family had founded. They had three sons before his death on 11 September 1916.

As a child she undoubtedly had assisted her mother in caring for wounded Confederate soldiers in their home, and she continued to follow her mother's example of service to the needy. In 1880 Cohen became the treasurer of the Richmond Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Infirmary, a clinic for those who could not afford medical care. She served in that office until at least 1917 and possibly until the infirmary closed in the mid-1920s. In January 1902 Cohen joined the board of the newly formed Instructive Visiting Nurses Association, which provided financial support for the Nurses' Settlement, an organization founded by several Richmond nurses to help indigent patients. The IVNA's board consisted of representatives from Richmond's various religious denominations and through area congregations raised money for the settlement's work. Cohen represented the Jewish community on the IVNA board for forty-two years, until her death. She often served as a vice president of the board between 1906 and 1933, was treasurer from 1923 to 1924, and was a longtime member of the executive, financial, and nursing committees.

In addition to her work with the IVNA, Cohen was the longest-serving president of the Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Association (later Jewish Family Services). Her father founded the Ladies' Chebrah, a beneficial membership organization, in 1849, and by 1890 it had become an entirely charitable organization and changed its name to the Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Association. It is unclear exactly when Cohen became involved with the LHBA because its early records are incomplete, but in 1903 she served as vice president and in January 1904 was elected president, an office she held until her retirement in 1938. The association primarily helped Jewish immigrants recently arrived in Richmond, and its members provided financial assistance, fuel, medicine, and clothing to needy families. Much of the LHBA's attention focused on victims of tuberculosis, a constant and significant problem in poor immigrant communities. The association made annual contributions to the IVNA for its nurses to care for hundreds of tubercular patients identified by the LHBA's executive committee. During Cohen's presidency, the association began to expand its efforts beyond material relief to offer advice to its clients on ways to improve their situations, and in 1937 the LHBA hired its first professional social worker. Throughout her long tenure Cohen was a tireless advocate for the LHBA. She worked to increase membership, created funds to encourage greater giving, and instituted an annual New Year's appeal for contributions.

In January 1905 Cohen attended a meeting called to organize the Richmond section of the National Council of Jewish Women. The new group named her to its board of directors in February of that year, and she later served on the budget committee from the 1920s to the 1940s. In 1908 she represented the Richmond branch at the National Council's triennial convention. Like its parent organization, the Richmond branch aided recent immigrants and provided religious and vocational education. Cohen chaired the group's immigration committee and supported the Council Neighborhood House, a community center offering entertainment, classes, a library, and a place for boys and girls to gather rather than remaining on the streets.

In addition to her work with charities, Cohen served on the board of Congregation Beth Ahabah from 1930 to 1934 and was first vice president for more than twenty years of what became the Beth Ahabah Sisterhood. She served on the executive committee of the local Red Cross for many years and also chaired Beth Ahabah's Red Cross committee during the First World War. She sat on the board of the Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work, was a trustee for the Crippled Children's Hospital, and was active in the Richmond Tuberculosis Association.

"Aunt Zip," as Cohen was known, was greatly admired and respected for her extensive community work, and in 1933 many Richmonders turned out to pay tribute at her eightieth birthday party. The Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Association created the Zipporah Cohen Fund in her honor and in 1937 sponsored a testimonial luncheon to acknowledge her long service as its president. After her retirement the following year, Zipporah Michelbacher Cohen remained the LHBA's honorary president until her death at her Richmond home on 20 August 1944. She was buried in the city's Hebrew Cemetery.

Sources Consulted:
Biography in Gaston Lichtenstein, "History of the Jews of Richmond: Their Progress and Prospects," Reform Advocate (8 Mar. 1913), 20 (portrait); birth date recorded in family Bible, reproduced in Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives Generations 5 (Apr. 1993): 6; Marriage Register, Richmond City, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health, Record Group 36, Library of Virginia; Instructive Visiting Nurses Association (IVNA) Minute Books (1902–1944) and Annual Reports (1903–1923), in IVNA Papers, Special Collections and Archives, Health Sciences Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond; Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Association Annual Reports (1903–1938) and National Council of Jewish Women (Richmond Section) Papers, both in Congregation Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives, Richmond; Richmond News Leader, 13 Dec. 1933; Richmond Times-Dispatch, 26 Jan. 1937 (portrait), 29 Mar. 1940; Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, History of the Jews of Richmond from 1769 to 1917 (1917), 210; Peter K. Opper, "Like a Giant Oak": A History of the Ladies Hebrew Benevolent Association and Jewish Family Services of Richmond, Virginia, 1849–1999 (1999); obituaries in Richmond News Leader and Richmond Times-Dispatch, both 21 Aug. 1944; editorial tribute in Richmond Times-Dispatch, 22 Aug. 1944.

Photograph in Reform Advocate, 8 March 1913.

Written for the Dictionary of Virginia Biography by Marianne E. Julienne.

How to cite this page:
{Marianne E. Julienne, "Zipporah Michelbacher Cohen (1853–1944)," Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia (1998– ), published 2006 (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Cohen_Zipporah_Michelbacher, accessed [today's date]).

Return to the Dictionary of Virginia Biography Search page.