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In 1998, Sandy Cohen persuaded his dad to let him borrow his 1947 Cadillac convertible. He thought it would be perfect for a special occasion.
Cohen used the classic car to drive his friend Barron Schimberg and his new bride, Patty, from the temple to their wedding reception. “He did whatever he could to make us happy,” Schimberg says.
Cohen died from a stroke on April 2. He was 50 years old. He leaves behind his wife, Lauren, his 19-year-old daughter, Camryn, and his 12-year-old son, Spencer. Cohen grew up in Sarasota and graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design.
For the past 25 years, he led Sarasota-based Design Marketing Group, a communications company he built from the ground up that designs and sets up trade show booths for companies. “He was extremely well liked by his clients,” Schimberg says. “They just adored him, and he made sure he did whatever it took to make them happy.”
A statement sent by Design Marketing Group to clients the day Cohen died says working with him was like being part of his family. “If you were in trouble or needed a hand,” it says, “he was there for you.”
It also says, “For his clients, he was a dogged protector of their goals and expectations and never accepted anything other than everyone’s best efforts to ensure that the clients got the best design, executed with skill and integrity.”
Through Design Marketing Group, Cohen also helped nonprofits and businesses around town create promotional brochures. Longtime-friend Dan Levison says, “There’s no way to account for all of the things that left his office that never had a price tag because he just wanted to help that person get a business going or keep it going.”
Being friends with Cohen meant it wasn’t unusual to receive an offer of help. “If you mentioned you were going to the airport, he would offer to drive you,” Levison says. “If you were going to be out of town, he’d ask if he could go to the office and do anything for you. I don’t think the word ‘no’ was in Sandy’s vocabulary. He was very selfless.”
When he wasn’t busy with his business, family or friends, Cohen repaired and restored cars. “He loved it,” Schimberg says. “He would buy these absolute rust buckets — crazy pieces of junk.” Then he restored them with a meticulous attention to detail from the paint color to the type of leather used on the seats. When Cohen finished a car, it was no longer junk but a gem.
Levison’s daughter was the first child born to the group of friends that included Cohen and Schimberg. Cohen was so excited, Levison says, that he bought her a pink plastic car, and the friends sat together in the living room, watching her pedal around. “Sandy said, ‘I got your daughter her first car,’” says Levison. “All of those things were special to him.”
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