A native of New York City, Joseph M. Cohen received a bachelors and masters degree in music from Texas Christian University in 1953 and 1954, respectively. At TCU he graduated summa cum laude and during his studies there produced an original ballet. In 1963 he completed his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, where he held an assistantship and fellowship. Dr. Cohen joined the St. Norbert College music department in 1963 where he taught for 17 years and received many accolades and honors, including being recipient of two successive American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) awards for his contributions to teaching and music. Among his many works, he composed incidental music for a play by George Bernard Shaw and, in 1974, a set of collaborated musical works, four unrelated ballads, composed for the poetry of Dr. John Bennett, and Bernard H. Pennings, Distinguished Professor of Literature. Dr. Cohen was a member of ASCAP and a life member of the musician’s union locals in New York, Kansas City, MO, and Fort Worth, and was a member of the local in Green Bay, WI.

Biographical Note written by Joe Dyal, 2019.