Cohon Remembered as Humble Leader, Kind Listener and Champion of Diversity

Colleagues gathered alongside family and friends to celebrate the legacy of Carnegie Mellon University’s eighth president(opens in new window) Jared L. Cohon during a Sept. 9 event where he was remembered as humble, considerate and kind while leading CMU through decisions that helped not only shape the university, but also the Pittsburgh region.

Cohon, who passed away March 16(opens in new window), led the university from 1997 to 2013 through an expansion from a national institution into a global university with 16 degree-granting programs in 14 countries. During that time, he oversaw a doubling in both the number of faculty members and the amount of spinout business activity while sponsored research funding the life sciences nearly tripled.

“Jerry had an uncanny ability to honor our history and culture, envision what’s next and then build on that future,” said Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian(opens in new window). “Carnegie Mellon is the institution it is today — a world-renowned locus of unrelenting innovation, brilliant talent and radical creativity — because of Jerry’s contributions as president.” 

Cohon fit squarely among leaders who have imbued Carnegie Mellon with the entrepreneurial spirit to compete with other research universities, said David Shapira, emeritus trustee and chair of the CMU Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2009.

 “He used the bully pulpit of being CEO to change this place,” Shapira said, adding that Cohon’s passion for diversity initiatives created an atmosphere where people felt valued. “He changed it into an institution where people actually listened to each other and respected each other.”

'A hopeful man, who was a realist, but never a cynic'

Mary Jo Dively(opens in new window), vice president and general counsel, and secretary of the corporation for CMU, said Cohon would often approach her with a situation and ask her to share what she thought was the right thing to do.

“Not ‘What’s the expedient thing?’ ‘What’s the least risky thing?’ ‘What can we get away with?’ but ‘What’s the right thing?’ she said. “He embraced the complexity of the world, something he was well-suited to do because he was a deeply educated and philosophical man, but even more importantly, because he was, at heart, a hopeful man, who was a realist, but never a cynic.”

Even though he called himself an “accidental president”(opens in new window) because he never planned to lead a major research university, Cohon’s actions intentionally made Carnegie Mellon into a more diverse, global and innovative institution, said James H. Garrett Jr., provost and chief academic officer.

“Jerry brought humanity to his work and his role as a leader,” Garrett said. “Jerry knew that to be excellent meant that we must be inclusive and he centered this perspective throughout his own work and encouraged the university to embrace that mindset. He knew what to say in tough moments and wasn’t afraid to tackle challenging situations. In short, he brought heart to CMU.”

Toward the end of his presidency, colleagues encouraged Cohon to compile lessons he learned as president, Garrett said, and that memoir, “Riding the Rocketship” — an analogy he made when referring to his leadership tenure when he stepped down in 2013(opens in new window) — will be published by the Carnegie Mellon University Press(opens in new window) in 2025. To further honor Cohon’s legacy, Jahanian reminded the audience that memorial and scholarship funds(opens in new window) will allow his memory to endure on campus, alongside those he and his wife Maureen “Bunny” Cohon established during his presidency.

Mark Nordenberg, chancellor emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh who worked alongside Cohon, relayed how he and Cohon shared a commitment to partnership and community.

“We immediately made partnering a shared priority, driven by three basic beliefs,” Nordenberg said. “The first was that our universities, like the two of us, were highly complimentary. The second was that, looking around this country, there was only one neighborhood that had more academic firepower if you consider Pitt and CMU together, and that was Cambridge, Massachusetts. And the third was that if we made partnering with each other a priority, we would be positioned both to elevate both universities and also to give our home region a badly needed boost.”

With an undergraduate civil engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania and doctorate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cohon joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in 1973 before becoming assistant and associate dean of engineering and vice provost for research. From 1992 to 1997, Cohon served as dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, then was selected for the presidency of Carnegie Mellon. Afterward, from 2014 to 2017, he served as a University Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy and director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation(opens in new window).

“Jerry came to work every day to do the work. And, along the way, he helped to grow not just an extraordinary community, but an extraordinary university,” Jahanian said. “The culmination of this growth positioned Carnegie Mellon as a global powerhouse of innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary scholarship. And this was Jerry’s plan all along. It’s a role and reputation that we proudly and rightfully still fill today.”

'He was a great man, and he was great because of each of you'

As a mentor and teacher, Cohon taught how to apply operations research by using real-world examples, said Dan Sheer, Cohon’s first Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins University. 

“He knew that solving problems in the real world was an art and he taught it that way,” Sheer said. “He knew that you passed on value to others by what you teach.”

To close the service, Cohon’s daughter Hallie Donner expressed her and her family’s gratitude for the community nurtured by Carnegie Mellon that allowed for and encouraged her father’s work to make a difference.

“He was a great man, and he was great because of each of you … but knowing that his legacy will live on, not only in us but in all of you, is a tremendous comfort,” she said. “Thank you so much for the role that you played in his life, we are so appreciative.”