Claudia Cohen

Claudia Lynn Cohen was an American gossip columnist, socialite, and television reporter. Her father, Robert Cohen, was the founder of Hudson News, a chain of newsstands and stores located primarily in American airports and train stations. Cohen grew the Hudson News into the world's largest airport newsstand retailer from a single location he opened in LaGuardia Airport in 1987. In 1976, she joined the New York Post as a reporter for its fledgling gossip column Page Six. She succeeded Neal Travis as editor of Page Six in 1978. Noted for going for the jugular, and creating a column with savvy and a sharp edge, Cohen is credited with putting Page Six on the map. Cohen left the Post in 1980 to start her own short-lived gossip column, I, Claudia (a play on words of the book title I, Claudius) at a rival newspaper, the New York Daily News. While that column was not a success, it did maintain Cohen's profile. Cohen was a regular on Live with Regis and Kelly and an active member of the Manhattan and Hamptons social scene. In 1984, Cohen began a relationship with businessman Ronald Perelman. The two married in 1985, and had one daughter, Samantha. After nine years, the couple divorced, and Cohen reportedly received a settlement of $80,000,000. She later dated former U.S. senator from New York state, Al D'Amato. Sadly, she passed on June 15, 2007, at the age of 56. At the request of her ex-husband, Ronald Perelman, the University of Pennsylvania renamed the historic Logan Hall to C…