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IN MEMORIAM
JACK COHEN

It seems that the personal computer has come to the age when the pioneers are now beginning to depart this world. Recently there have been two very famous pioneers who have passed away. However, it is happening to the not so famous, but just as important in their own way, as well.

I have recently been informed that Jack Cohen passed away on August 12th 2010. I know little of Jack's life so will not be summarising it here.

What I DO know is the contribution that Jack made to ICPUG and my experiences of being with Jack at National committee meetings and the computer shows.

ICPUG started in late 1978 after a letter in a national computer magazine at the time. Once the initial bunch of enthusiasts organised themselves, we had a Chairman and Membership Secretary located in the Midlands of the country and a Newsletter Editor located in the South East. Membership gradually increased and less than 3 years later the Chairman wanted to relinquish his post. By this time ICPUG SE had become the most prominent regional group and its Chairman, Mick Ryan, took over. At the subsequent AGM in 1981 the change was ratified, along with the appointment of Jack as National Membership Secretary.

These were boom times for the personal computer business. Commodore had established itself with the PET and was soon to introduce the VIC and Commodore 64. It was also a boom time for the computer show. There were 1, or sometimes 2, major Commodore shows a year apart from local shows. All this Commodore success meant it was also a boom time for ICPUG. Mick took us from a bunch of enthusiasts into a professional organisation. We had our own stands at the major shows and these, along with the rapidly expanding regional group network, meant that membership numbers kept going up and up.

Jack was an important part of the organisation that coped with this. I suspect that, for a lot of people, Jack was the first ICPUG person they made contact with, as he was often one of the ICPUG stalwarts on the stand. One such person who did meet Jack at this time was Jennifer Goldsmith. In November 1983 Jennifer Goldsmith started her involvement with ICPUG by getting elected as Exhibitions organiser. As well as being a constant companion of Jack's at committee and shows, Jennifer became Jack's partner for the rest of his life.

I think it is fair to say that Jack was a good talker (!) and friendly with it. These were ideal qualities for someone to promote ICPUG to the newcomer and to nudge those who needed that final push to become a member. As you can see from all the badges being worn by Jack above he was never shy at being on the front line.

All the good work on the stands put in by the ICPUG crew meant that membership that started from 20 enthusiasts expanded to be counted in thousands. We had a renewal process that renewed once a year. Worse, it was in January. So, apart from the holiday preparations at that time of year, the Membership Secretary had to cope with a rather large stream of mail in December and January and process all the cheques that this would produce. Not an easy task by any means. Somehow, Jack, with some assistance, coped.

One or two years of this would probably be enough for a mere mortal. The extent of Jack's contribution can be measured by the fact that he was Membership Secretary for 12 years, stepping down at the AGM in 1993. These 12 years were also the busiest for ICPUG as in 1993, along with the fortunes of Commodore, membership was starting to drop. I may be wrong, but I cannot think of any other committee member who held their post continuously for this long.

My memory of Jack will always be of a larger than life guy extolling the virtues of ICPUG to that Commodore computer owner who came to the show, but his contribution to the backroom admin of ICPUG was equally enormous.

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