Paul Cowan (writer)

Paul Cowan (1940-1988) was a New York-based journalist, staff writer for the Village Voice, and the author of several books, including a memoir of his reconnection to his Jewish roots and a guide to interfaith marriages.[1][2][3]

Paul Cowan
Born1940
Died1988
NationalityUnited States
EducationB.A. Harvard University
Spouse(s)Rachel Cowan
Parent(s)Polly Spiegel Cowan
Louis G. Cowan
Family Geoffrey Cowan (brother)
Gabriel Cowan (nephew)
Joseph Spiegel (great-grandfather)


Early life

Born on September 21, 1940, Paul Cowan was the child of Louis G. Cowan, a television producer who later became president of CBS, and Pauline “Polly” Spiegel Cowan, an heir to the Spiegel Catalog company, granddaughter of Joseph Spiegel.[1][4] While both of his parents were Jewish, Cowan was not raised with any observance of Jewish traditions, a fact that was to become important in his later writing and community involvement.[5] He attended Choate preparatory school and graduated from Harvard University.[2]

Career

After college, Cowan spent two years in the Peace Corps and in 1970 wrote a book about his experiences in Ecuador, The Making of an Un-American.[1] He joined the Village Voice as a staff writer and wrote about the civil rights movement, coal miners in Kentucky, poverty-stricken older Jews in New York City, the border town of Juarez, Mexico, and Vietnam War protests.[1] After his parents died in a fire in 1978, Cowan began to investigate his Jewish roots and discovered that his grandparents on his father’s side were Orthodox Jews from Lithuania, his family’s real name had been Cohen, and his great-great grandfather had been a rabbi.[1] He embraced his Jewish roots[6] and wrote a book about his journey of discovery, An Orphan in History: Retrieving a Jewish Legacy in 1982.[7][8][9] He and his wife, along with others, worked to start a Jewish school and revitalize an historic synagogue in Manhattan. In 1987 he published Mixed Blessings: Marriage between Jews and Christians, a book about the challenges of interfaith families.[1][2]

Personal life

Cowan married Rachel Ann Brown, a social worker and rabbi, in 1965. Together they had two children, Lisa and Matt. Cowan had three siblings: Geoffrey Cowan, an attorney and university professor, Holly Shulman, and Liza Cowan. [1]

Death

Cowan died of leukemia on September 26, 1988. [1]

Publications
  • The Making of an Un-American: A Dialogue with Experience (1970)
  • State Secrets: Police Surveillance in America (1974)
  • The Tribes of America (1979)
  • An Orphan in History: Retrieving a Jewish Legacy (1982)
  • Mixed Blessings: Marriage between Jews and Christians (1987)

References
  1. Berger, Joseph (September 27, 1988). "Paul Cowan, Village Voice Writer And Author of 5 Books, Dies at 48". New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  2. "Paul Cowan; Village Voice Writer, Author". Los Angeles Times. October 3, 1988. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  3. Leigh, David (2020). "The Remaking of an American Jew: Paul Cowan's An Orphan in History". Circuitous Journeys. New York: Fordham University Press. p. 178-196.
  4. "Author Paul Cowan Dead at 48; Chronicled Return to Judaism". The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. September 28, 1988. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  5. Krupnick, Mark (Autumn 1993). "Assimilation in Recent American Jewish Autobiographies". Contemporary Literature. 34 (3): 451–474. doi:10.2307/1208683. JSTOR 1208683.
  6. Green, David (September 21, 2015). "This Day in Jewish History 1940: A Journalist who Reclaimed a Scorned Jewish Legacy is Born". Haaretz.
  7. Shepard, Richard (January 6, 1983). "A Writer's Homecoming". New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  8. Silberman, Charles (October 10, 1982). "Living in 1982 and 5743". New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  9. Bernstein, Fred (March 21, 1983). "You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Love Paul Cowan's An Orphan in History". People. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
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