A graduate of Fallsburg Central High School in 1968, Lester Cohen received a B.S. and M.S, in Civil Engineering at Boston’s Northeastern University. In 1978, he began a more than forty-year career at The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which together with Harvard University make up the Center for Astrophysics. He became the Chief Engineer of the Structural Analysis & Design Group. His work on two of NASA’s great observatories—the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope, to be launched in 2021—earned Lester Cohen the 2009 NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and numerous recognition awards.
He is proud that he shares the same award as Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Lester’s colleagues at NASA acknowledge that his technical brilliance and integrity are unrivaled. He has distinguished himself as a top mechanical engineer in the development of space telescopes. He has been described as a technical wizard. His accomplishments as a son of one of Fallsburg’s outstanding educators, Mrs. Blossom Cohen, as a family man, and as a man of deep religious faith, attest to his integrity and depth of character. Lester has inspired countless students to pursue technological fields that he believes are the route to a greater good for all. NASA’s mission success has been, and will be in the future, directly dependent on Lester’s contributions. As one of his close associates has said, “Lester is a true unique national asset to NASA and the nation and an exceptional friend and colleague.”
Classmates and friends are warmly invited to celebrate Lester Cohen when he receives his Hall of Fame plaque at the fifteenth annual Fallsburg Central School Alumni Association Reunion and Brunch Buffet on Saturday, July 20, 2019 from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Woodbourne Firehouse, 355 Route 52, Woodbourne. If you have any questions please contact the FAA President Regina McKenny-Snead at (845) 866-0232.