Fred Cohen, a retired entrepreneur, died on October 6 at the age of 83, unable to recover from the last of the numerous life threatening health events he suffered in the last 8 years of his life. Born to Russian immigrants in 1928, the second of three children, he was raised in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia and began working part time jobs at an early age to help support himself and his family. He often told family and friends that with each job he had he learned something new to take with him to the next one, and made a game of maximizing his performance at each job he had, a habit that stayed with him the rest of his life. After graduating Overbrook High School, he went to sea at the age of 17, joining the U.S. Merchant Marine in order to earn money for college. Fred was an avid radio builder and HAM radio operator in high school, and this expertise led to him being commissioned the youngest ever officer in that service. Returning to Philadelphia after almost 2 years at sea and with the assistance of a U.S. Naval ROTC scholarship, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering, during which time he met his soon to be wife, the late Sandi Cohen (nee Canter) on a blind date. Immediately after his graduation from Penn, they were married and Fred joined the U.S. Navy, sailing with the 6th Fleet as a 1st Lieutenant and communications officer on a destroyer for 2 years during the Korean War. Following his naval service, he was employed as an electrical engineer by a number of companies, including Philco Corp., where he helped design one of the first of the larger black and white televisions ever sold, and later at RCA in Camden, NJ, where he was a project engineer with various programs, including the development of the guidance system for the Nike missile, the first successful, widely deployed surface-to-air guided missile system. Fred later worked at ITT Corporation, headquartered in Nutley, NJ, rising high in management of various projects and reporting directly to ITT president Harold Geneen by the time he departed, convinced that the normal corporate culture was truly a rat race. Hoping to somehow start a business of his own, he moved his family back to the Philadelphia area and returned to work at RCA, at a significant pay cut, to pursue his dream. In the mid-1960s, working in the basement of his Cherry Hill home with a total investment of $1,500, he and 2 other part-time moonlighting associates developed the first product that would in a very short time result in the formation of TeleSciences, Inc. Based in Moorestown, NJ. TeleSciences soon became a publicly traded company developing and manufacturing a variety of revolutionary and sophisticated electronic telephony systems, and a major supplier of these systems to telephone companies worldwide. From its inception to sale in the early 1980s, Fred remained president and chairman of the board of directors, during which time he and his wife traveled the world. For many years he was an avid private pilot, becoming instrument and multi-engine rated. In retirement, he never really was: he worked on a variety of projects, including writing a movie screenplay which was optioned by a major movie studio, attempting to develop a device to detect epileptic seizures, as well as numerous other start-up ventures. He also became very active in the death with dignity movement, lobbying state legislators on behalf of several affiliated organizations for laws that would allow people to control how and when they died. On the lighter side, he portrayed an Amish farmer in a Toyota ad for the Japanese television market. Physically active, he played singles tennis into his mid seventies, until he suffered a rare and sudden spinal event which left him wheelchair bound and in constant pain for the last 8 years of his life. As with every other obstacle in his life, he pressed on with zest and dignity in his motorized wheelchair and self driven modified van, maintaining a very active social life with his friends and family until 2 weeks before his death. When asked how he was doing in these last years, the answer was always the same: "I'm rolling along". He recently told his friends and family that he had packed more living into the first 70 years of life than most people could if they lived to 110, and that the only 2 things that he failed to accomplish was making a movie and piloting a fighter jet. Sandi, his wife of 54 years, died in 2006. Fred is survived by sons Charlie and Bob, daughter-in-law Kate Fleming Cohen, grandchildren Molly, Pierce, Joseph and Eli Cohen, sister Selma Robbins and his long time home care aid and "adopted son" John Bonney. Brother Arnold Cain predeceased him. A celebration of Fred's life will be held next month. For details, email charliec610@gmail.com. Donations in his memory can be made to Epilepsy Foundation, Compassion & Choices, or to the Palliative Care Program at Cooper Hospital, Camden, NJ. Arrangements by The Oliver H. Bair Co. (215) 563-1580