In Remembrance: Martin Jerome Kohn ’70PhD Died on September 30 2014

Martin Kohn, who earned an MA in Russian studies in 1957 and a PhD in economics in 1970, both from Yale University, died on September 30, 2014, in Washington, DC. He was 84.

After earning his BA in history at Oberlin, Marty served for two years in the US Army before attending Yale for his master’s degree. After a period working in Washington, DC, he returned to Yale and obtained his PhD. Over three decades he specialized in the analysis of the Russian economy, working for various federal agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board, the state department, the CIA, and the commerce department, where he was the director of the Office of Trade and Investment Analysis (OTIA) and the International Trade Administration (ITA). He was active in the National Economists Club, including a one-year term as president. After retiring from the government, he worked in the private sector as director of the Eurasia Service of WEFA, an economic analysis and forecasting firm.

Marty was a gentle man with a wry sense of humor and little patience for greed or dishonesty. He was an unreconstructed New Deal Democrat who believed that government could and should help people who needed help. Over the past decade, he volunteered as a paralegal for the AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly. He worked hard to help his disadvantaged clients, and in 2008 was chosen as the group’s volunteer of the year.

He enjoyed playing and watching tennis, and from the age of six was an ardent fan of the Giants baseball and football teams. For more than 40 years, he spent part of every summer with his family in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, where he played tennis, sailed, and read.

He is survived by Miriam, his wife of 50 years; his sister, Alice Kohn Weissman; his son David; his daughter Susanna; and his five grandchildren.

Submitted by the family.

An obituary was published in the Washington Post on October 4, 2014.