Harry B. Cohen

Harry B. Cohen, CM (February 18, 1912 – July 9, 1990) was a Canadian entrepreneur, community builder and philanthropist. He was married to the late Martha Cohen (née Block) and is survived by their four children, Philip, Cheryl, Faye (Hersh), and David.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Cohen came from a poor immigrant family, the son of Alexander and Rose (née Diamond) Cohen. He quit school at age 15 to help support them. Working as a doorman at a theater in Winnipeg, he obtained a job at Warner Bros. as a film inspector during the Great Depression. In 1932, he was transferred by Warner to Calgary, Alberta. Taking a liking to the city, he persuaded his entire family to move West in 1934. They arrived broke, and their arrival marked the beginning of an amazing success story.

Harry's five brothers, John, Albert, Morley, Samuel, and Joseph, set up a small retail store and, by 1939, the family had scraped together enough monies to create General Distributors Ltd, a wholesale import firm. While his brothers went off to war, Harry, (disqualified from service because of stomach ulcers), attended to the family business while still working for Warner Bros. It is during this time that he met and married Martha Cohen.

By 1950, General Distributors sales amounted to $1 million. In the early 1950s, the company obtained exclusive Canadian rights for Paper Mate pens. Then, in 1955, Harry's brother Albert landed the Canadian distribution rights to Sony products. The Cohen brothers scattered across Canada in order to manage the national business, each brother establishing himself in a major city: Morley (Montreal), John (Toronto), Joe (Vancouver), Harry (Calgary), and both Sam and Albert setting up headquarters (Winnipeg).

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