Eleanor Septima Cohen

Eleanor Septima Cohen was born into one of Baltimore’s preeminent Jewish families. She was the great-granddaughter of Judith Solomon Cohen, who had settled in the city in 1808, following the death of her husband, Israel, and whose children—including David, Mendes, and Eleanor’s grandfather, Benjamin—would be recognized for their accomplishments in business and finance as well as for their contributions to Jewish and civic life of Baltimore.

Israel I. Cohen, Eleanor’s father, ran a successful brokerage firm and was a founder of the second Baltimore Stock Exchange. In 1850 he married Cecilia Eliza Levy, and among their children Benjamin, Joshua, Georgie, and Anna Maria.

Eleanor remained in Baltimore for her entire life and, like many of her forebears, devoted much of her energy and time to philanthropy, donating generously to Jewish and secular charities and organizations. She contributed to the department of medicine at the University of Maryland and to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. She also bequeathed a large collection of family artefacts to the Maryland Historical Society including the extensive collection of paintings and photographs of the Cohen family that have so enriched the Loeb Portrait Database.

Eleanor Septima Cohen

c. 1860–1863