Ben Cohen (businessman)
Bennett Cohen (born March 18, 1951) is an American businessman, activist and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's.[1]
Ben Cohen
Early life[edit]
Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the town of Merrick, New York, on Long Island by Jewish parents Frances and Irving. He spent at least one summer at Buck's Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp in New Milford, Connecticut.[2] Cohen first met and befriended his future business partner Jerry Greenfield in a seventh grade gym class in 1963.[3] They continued on to Sanford H. Calhoun High School.[4] In his senior year, Cohen found work as an ice cream man before leaving to attend Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.[1] He also studied at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he mostly took pottery classes.[5]
Over the next decade, Cohen pursued his interest in pottery and dropped out of college after his sophomore year.[6] He also worked as a McDonald's cashier, Pinkerton guard, deliverer of pottery wheels, mop-boy at Jamesway and Friendly's, assistant superintendent, ER clerk, and taxi driver, before settling on work as a craft teacher at a private school for emotionally-disturbed adolescents. While teaching at the Highland Community School, Cohen began experimenting with making his own ice creams.
Other business ventures[edit]
In March 2023, it was reported Cohen started Ben's Best Blnz, or B3, a non-profit firm that offered cannabis products like low-THC pre-rolls and full-spectrum vapes. The stated objective of this effort was to correct for the wrongs of the War on Drugs and to narrow the racial wealth gap. Proceeds from sales would be split among three entities, with 10% going to the Last Prisoner Project, 10% going to the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, and the remaining 80% going to NuProject.[9]