Celebrating the Life and Legacy of our Cherished Jackie

Jacqueline “Jackie” Cohen departed this life on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at the age of sixty-eight. Jackie was a treasured mother, grandmother, sister, cousin, friend, and mentor who embodied love, kindness, generosity, and warmth to all who had the privilege of knowing her.

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Throughout her life, Jackie was known for her unwavering commitment to family and to community service. Jackie was a great Mom and fierce advocate for her children. She cultivated their love for traveling and experiencing new things by enrolling them in all sorts of programs from science to sports. She made sure that each of her children continued their education beyond high school, supporting them through college and/or career programs, in many cases by taking on a second or third job. One of Jackie’s other joys was working with children and youth. For over ten years she worked as a pre-school teacher with the San Francisco Child Development Centers. In 1989, Jackie began her career as a school bus driver – shepherding students from home to schools all over the city. 

In 2024, and after thirty-five years of service, she was forced to end her bus driving career due to health issues. Jackie’s “claim to fame” was the founding of 100% College Prep with her sister-cousin, Diane.  She spent over twenty years co-leading this program and the organization Bayview Association for Youth were hundreds of youths in the Bayview community and beyond received educational services and exposure to local colleges and Historical Black Colleges and Universities across the country. Jackie was a champion for parent engagement, creating meaningful spaces such as the class “Raising a Child in the Hip Hop Generation”, the dynamic youth-led annual musical showcases at the Bayview Opera House, and the Brothers Making Change intergenerational program. This work allowed her to touch so many lives. Jackie was also a long-time board member of the Ruth Williams Opera House (formerly the Bayview Opera House). One of Jackie’s loves were movies. She would take her children and others in the community to the theater and spend an entire day watching movies going from screen to screen! Jackie LOVED all Barbara Streisand movies and songs (she knew the words to every one of them too!).