Mitchell Cohen was a prominent figure in Camden, New Jersey, with a long career as a lawyer and judge. He was a Democrat aligned with George R. Brunner in the mid-1930s and was named Camden City Prosecutor in October 1936 when a New Jersey State Supreme Court decision gave control of City government to the Democrat party. By August 1938, he was made acting judge in Camden’s Police Court. Cohen also served as Camden County Prosecutor in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The 1947 Camden City Directory listed Cohen as living at 413 Penn Street, which had been the home of three sisters, Frances Wilmerton, Mary Brown, and Margaret Thomson, who were long-time Camden schoolteachers.
In 1949, when Howard Unruh went on a shooting rampage in Camden that left 13 people dead, Cohen was serving as the Camden County Prosecutor and took Unruh’s statement, which remains sealed to this day. Also during Cohen’s tenure as County Prosecutor, long-time Camden County Chief of Detectives Larry Doran retired. Cohen rose to the post of Chief Justice of the Federal District Court in Camden, and the courthouse erected in the late 1990s bears his name.
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