H eadlines
Family Company Celebrates Century Via Giving
L OCA L
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
ACCORDING TO BRETT
Cohen, the fourth-generation
family member to work at
Clarke & Cohen Property Loss
Consultants, being a public
insurance adjuster “is not all
peaches and gravy.”
But after 100 years of
helping clients settle insurance
claims after house fires and
property destruction, Clarke &
Cohen wants to give back to its
community. The consultant company is
hosting a series of “random
acts of kindness” this month,
holding a Chanukah and
Christmas toy drive at its Bala
Cynwyd office in partnership
with Manayunk Development
Corp. for the Northlight
Community Center. It hosted
a coat drive with Our Closet
and the Bethesda Project and
dropped off food to fire stations
in the city, suburbs and down
the shore earlier in December.

“It’s fortunate to be in
business for 100 years; it’s
fortunate to be able to work
with your family, and it’s fortu-
nate to have the success and
the growth in our company
that we’ve had,” said Richard
Cohen, Clarke & Cohen CEO
and father of Brett Cohen.

“This was an opportunity ...

to really give back and make a
difference.” Clarke & Cohen is licensed
in 27 states and is a charter
member of the National
Association of public insur-
ance adjusters. Four members
of Clarke & Cohen have
served as president of that
trade organization, including
Richard Cohen.

But like many Jewish family
businesses, the consulting
company had
humble beginnings.

Clarke & Cohen was
founded by Simon Clarke and
Leon Cohen, who were origi-
nally partners in the salvage
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Richard Cohen (right) with father Barry Cohen and grandfather Gene
Lerner in 1996
1994 and owner in 2004. He
was responsible for modern-
izing the company, which, at
the beginning of his employ-
ment, didn’t even have copy or
fax machines — just a mimeo-
graph machine.

Though his father expected
him to follow in his footsteps,
Richard Cohen has no qualms
fulfilling his role of heir.

“I pretty much found that
[passion] right away,” he said.

Though Richard Cohen
is keen to keep the business
in family hands, he avoided
putting pressure on his son
and nephew Blake Zucker.

That didn’t matter— they both
started working for Clarke &
Cohen on their own volition.

After graduating college,
Brett Cohen began working for
a client of Clarke & Cohen’s at
the time.

“I saw what my family’s
company came in and was able
to do and how that was able
to help such a large manage-
ment company,” he said. “At
that point, it was apparent to
me that I had a unique oppor-
tunity that not a lot of people
have and that I should take
advantage of.”
Brett Cohen, 29, has worked
at Clarke & Cohen for four
years, now alongside Zucker.

He plans on filling his father’s
footsteps as owner one day.

“This is kind of a calling
of sorts,” Brett Cohen said.

“When something happens,
we’re there to help people make
it better.”
Donations for Clarke
& Cohen’s toy drive can be
dropped off at 510 Belmont
Ave. in Bala Cynwyd. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
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Rich Cohen (center) with nephew Blake Zucker and son Brett Cohen
(right) in 2019
Courtesy of Clarke & Cohen
industry before Pennsylvania
passed the first public adjuster
law in 1921. The partners
shifted business models, setting
up an office at 229 Chestnut St.

Clarke was an Irish Jew —
his cousin was the mayor of
Dublin at some point.

“He was very observant,”
Richard Cohen said. “If you
had a fire or a loss on the
Sabbath, you couldn’t speak to
him. You had to wait until the
Sabbath was over for him to
help you.”
Ten years into Clarke and
Cohen’s public adjuster business,
Clarke left after a disagreement,
leaving the Cohens at the helm
of the business.

Richard Cohen’s grand-
father became the business
owner in the 1940s, and his
father began working for the
company in 1963. The company
moved then to its office in Bala
Cynwyd. Richard Cohen, the
only grandson, joined in 1988
after graduating from The
Pennsylvania State University.

He was a first-generation
college graduate.

“It was pretty much always
an expectation that I would
join the business,” he said. “My
parents actually joked that they
considered naming me Clarke
Cohen.” Richard Cohen became a
partner of Clarke & Cohen in
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S3Living.com DECEMBER 16, 2021
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