LittleSis: Rick Cohen

The 61-year-old -- who goes by “Rick” -- has transformed C&S into the world’s largest grocery wholesaler since taking the helm of the business in 1989, making him one of the 100 richest people in the world and the wealthiest man in New England. Cohen’s grandfather, Israel, co-founded C&S in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1918, according to the company’s website. After a flood destroyed his inventory in 1929, he opened a new warehouse twice the size on higher ground, a few blocks further from the city’s Blackstone River. His son, Lester, expanded the business into supplying military bases after a tour of duty as a bomber navigator in World War II. Rick joined the company in 1974, after receiving an accounting degree at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton school. A three-week union strike almost shuttered the business a year later, leading Cohen to persuade his father to move the company to Brattleboro, Vermont, where it could build larger warehouses and hire nonunion workers. Cohen took over as CEO and chairman when his father retired. He moved the headquarters 18 miles east to Keene in 2003. The billionaire and his wife, Jan, live on a street where the average home value is $294,000. The couple owns the most valuable single-family home in Keene, assessed at $1.5 million. Cohen’s wife is executive producer of the Kaddish Project, a touring musical on genocide, and the Holocaust studies center at Keene State College was renamed after the family for their financial support, according to the school. One daughter, Perry, is C&S’s vice president of corporate learning and talent management; another, Rachel, teaches high school at a charter school in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Donor	Common Recipients
Harvey M Meyerhoff	Richard Burr, Thomas Peter Lantos, John E Sununu, James Merrill Jeffords, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld
Joseph Petrone	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, Charles Foster Bass, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee
Edward C Levy Jr	Richard Burr, Thomas Peter Lantos, John E Sununu, Charles Foster Bass, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee
Abigail Johnson	Richard Burr, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Jeanne Shaheen, Friends of Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Maggie for New Hampshire
Seth Klarman	George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Katrina Swett, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Jeanne Shaheen, Friends of Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Maggie for New Hampshire
Richard Egan	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, Charles Foster Bass, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee
Nicholas DeBenedictis	Richard Burr, Todd Platts, John E Sununu, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Glenn Thompson
Leonard Blavatnik	Richard Burr, Paul Hodes, Thomas Peter Lantos, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Katrina Swett, Mitt Romney, Jeanne Shaheen
Patrick G Ryan	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee
Theodore Cutler	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, Charles Foster Bass, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld
John W Childs	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, James Merrill Jeffords, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld
Robert L Reynolds	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, Charles Foster Bass, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld
Jim Davis	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Jeanne Shaheen
C Boyden Gray	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, James Merrill Jeffords, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld
Sam Fox	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee
J C Huizenga	Richard Burr, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Friends of Glenn Thompson, Glenn Thompson, Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee
Bernie Marcus	Richard Burr, Thomas Peter Lantos, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Katrina Swett, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld
Nicholas Calio	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, James Merrill Jeffords, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld
Frank E Richardson	Richard Burr, John E Sununu, James Merrill Jeffords, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld
Marc Rowan	John E Sununu, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Mitt Romney, Jeanne Shaheen, Friends of Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Maggie for New Hampshire

Donor

Common Recipients

Harvey M Meyerhoff

Richard Burr, Thomas Peter Lantos, John E Sununu, James Merrill Jeffords, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld

Joseph Petrone

Richard Burr, John E Sununu, Charles Foster Bass, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee

Edward C Levy Jr

Richard Burr, Thomas Peter Lantos, John E Sununu, Charles Foster Bass, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, RNC Republican National State Elections Committee, Mitt Romney, Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee

Abigail Johnson

Richard Burr, George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Jeanne Shaheen, Friends of Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Maggie for New Hampshire

Seth Klarman

George W Bush, Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Katrina Swett, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Jeanne Shaheen, Friends of Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Maggie for New Hampshire