Jerry Cohen named RE Man of the Year.

"In all the years I know Jerry Cohen, I never heard anyone say a disparaging word about him."

Larry A. Silverstein made this simple declaration as he paid tribute to Jerry L. Cohen, a partner with Tishman Speyer Properties, L.P, at the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Real Estate Luncheon, where Cohen was named Israel Cancer Research Fund 2004 Real Estate Man of the Year. Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties, served as chairman of the Luncheon, held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York. Proceeds benefited ICRF, the North American organization that underwrites outstanding, peer-reviewed cancer research by Israel's most gifted scientists.

"New York City's economy has never been better; it's thriving," Silverstein asserted. "But, it wasn't that long ago--in the 70s--that the city was on the verge of bankruptcy. There were some who understood the dangers of that bankruptcy. New York State Governor Hugh Carey was one. He had the courage to pledge the full faith and credit of New York State to rescue New York City. It was a brilliant stroke of immense leadership."

With these words of praise, Silverstein called Governor Carey, a close friend of Cohen's from their early Brooklyn days, to the podium.

"The real estate profession--I call it a profession, not an industry--was a great help in saving the city in those difficult times," Carey told the nearly 300 luncheon guests. "It gave us hope and helped demonstrate that in New York City, there is no such thing as an impossible dream."

"What you're doing here today, supporting ICRF, is giving us all hope that conquering cancer is not an impossible dream," Carey continued.

"I traveled to Israel when Menachem Begin was prime minister and visited the Technion, where your two Nobel Prize-winning scientists are conducting their research." (Technion Professors Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover, whose research has been funded by ICRF for 22 years, received the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering a process that lets cells destroy unwanted proteins--the ubiquitin system.)

"Begin called me a 'mentsch'," Carey noted. "But in Boro Park, they called me a 'goy with a yiddishe kop' (gentile with a Jewish head). I salute ICRF for giving us hope," the former governor continued, "and I salute Jerry Cohen for being ubiquitous."

Cohen has been associated with Tishman Speyer, one of the largest and oldest real estate development organizations in the United States, since 1998. He has been involved with the company's acquisitions of Gateway Center in Newark, 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and the development of the Hearst headquarters building in Manhattan. Before joining Tishman Speyer, Cohen was vice chair and Board member of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

He received many of the real estate industry's most distinguished awards, including the Real Estate Board of New York's "Most Ingenious Deal of the Year," given to him twice. A governor of the Real Estate Board of New York and president of the Realty Foundation, Cohen's other prestigious honors include the Realty Foundation's "Man of the Year" award and New York University's "Madden Award for Distinguished Alumni."

He is a partner of the Yankee Global Enterprises and was previously president of the New Jersey Nets. Formerly chair emeritus of the Circle Repertory Theatre and currently a member of the Board of the Manhattan Theatre Club, he is also a Board member of ORT, and a member of the Board of Overseers of the New York University's Stern School of Business and of Long Island University's Board of Trustees. He served as chair of the Real Estate Division of UJA-Federation and Israel Bonds

"Jerry also serves as chairman of the membership committee of the golf club we both belong to. That requires great courage," Carey quipped, "because there is a long waiting list."

"How important is it in life to meet the right people?" Cohen asked rhetorically after he was called up to the podium to receive his award, referring to his many friends in the room and most directly to his wife of almost 50 years, Adrianne. Jerry and Adrianne, who reside in Manhattan and Shelter Island, have three married children--Steven, Gary and Caralyn--and seven grandchildren.

"Jerry's commitment to cancer research and to strengthening the state of Israel is inspiring," said S. Donald Friedman, ICRF founder, chairman emeritus and senior vice president who served as the luncheon's campaign chair. "It has been my personal and professional pleasure to know him throughout his outstanding, highly successful and multi-faceted career. Jerry is a true renaissance man." Friedman is CEO of General Investors Corp.

Howard J. Rubenstein served as Luncheon Tribute Journal chairman and Arthur J. Mirante II of Cushman & Wakefield as Luncheon vice chairman.