How a Rochester high school principal's newspaper ad in 1981 became a national sensation

In 1981, Pincus Cohen, the principal of Benjamin Franklin High School in Rochester, made national news by spreading some good news.

Cohen bought an advertisement in Rochester’s City Newspaper that listed the names of the 169 students on the school’s honor roll.

“In a world where you rarely get your name in the newspaper for doing something right, Pincus Cohen thinks ‘good kids’ deserve some recognition – even if he has to pay for it,” wrote Bob Minzesheimer of the Democrat and Chronicle.

For Cohen, who died on June 17 at age 96, the cost of the ad — $100 from the school’s general fund — was money well spent.

“Look at it this way,” Cohen told Minzesheimer. “A 16-year-old kid robs a bank, and he gets his name in the paper. Another kid goes to school each day, works hard, does well and gets little recognition. I agree that virtue is supposed to be its own reward, but shouldn’t we be doing more for the good kids?”

The D&C wrote about Cohen in a Jan. 6, 1981, front-page story. The paper also listed the 169 honor students. The story was quickly picked up by newspapers across the country.

Letter writers to the D&C applauded Cohen for celebrating his students, though they also took the newspaper to task for stressing bad news about young people over good news about student successes.

The D&C defended itself by arguing that bad things teenagers do are the exception and therefore newsworthy. Good things are the rule, the paper explained, and therefore they aren’t as newsworthy.

The reasoning seemed to ignore the argument that worthy achievements, however predictable, could make newspaper stories.

Certainly, Cohen found the good where others found the bad. In the words of his daughter, Helene Newman of Pittsford, Cohen was a “more than half-full” optimist. “He saw the future of nearly every kid through rose-colored glasses,” she said.

Beyond that, Cohen was extraordinarily proud of, and loyal to Franklin, the high school he had graduated from in 1944.

The son of Russian immigrants, and the seventh of eight children, he went into the Navy after high school, serving until his discharge in 1946. He then attended the University of Rochester, graduating in 1949. (He would receive two more degrees.)

Starting his career at East High School, he then returned to Franklin, rising through the ranks as a teacher, guidance counselor, dean of boys, acting principal, and, finally, in 1969, principal.

As principal, he was an early advocate of a nursery in his school. That way, the children of some of his students could be cared for while their mothers attend classes. “People might say the students should have thought of that before they got pregnant,” Cohen told the D&C, “but the problem is real — it’s out there, and we have to deal with it.”

The district would come to agree with Cohen, though its first childcare center was established at another city school, not Franklin.

Cohen retired in 1981, and, along with his wife Gloria, who was also a graduate of Franklin and UR, he began an impressively active retirement.  For more than 20 years, they escorted tour groups throughout the world. Pincus Cohen wrote newspaper articles, he taught Spanish, and he taught safe driving courses. Gloria Cohen, who taught in the Rochester and the Brighton school districts, died in 2020, at age 93.

A Franklin Family

The 1981 list of honor-roll students at Franklin published in a City Newspaper ad included at least one name I recognized, that of Marilyn Ajavananda, my former colleague at the Democrat and Chronicle, who died on Jan. 17 of a heart attack at age 59.

Marilyn’s twin sister, Carolyn, also deceased, as well as her sisters Rebecca and Kimberly, made the honor roll, too. Their success alone would have made a good newspaper story.

Were there other Franklin success stories from Pincus Cohen’s time?  Let me know.

Remarkable Rochesterians: Pincus Cohen

For his educational leadership and championing of his students, let’s add the name of Pincus Cohen to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that can be found at: : https://data.democratandchronicle.com/remarkable-rochesterians/

Pincus Cohen (1926-2023): As the principal of the 3,000-student Benjamin Franklin High School, his alma mater, from 1969 to 1981, he drew national attention by buying a newspaper ad announcing the school’s honor roll. An advocate for an in-school daycare facility so young mothers could attend school, he led many other efforts to ensure student success. A native of Rochester, and the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, he served in the Navy during World War II and earned three degrees from the University of Rochester.

From his home in Geneseo, Livingston County, retired senior editor Jim Memmott, writes Remarkable Rochester, who we were, who we are. He can be reached at jmemmott@gannett.com or write Box 274, Geneseo, NY 14454

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester NY school principal took out ad celebrating his students