Muni pioneer Claire Cohen, 87, dies

Claire G. Cohen, 87, one of the first women professionals in the municipal bond industry, whose career in public finance spanned over 49 years died at home on Feb. 3.

“She was a pioneer in many ways, never shy to express an opinion which was always thoughtful and without rancor,” said Hy Grossman, who began working with Cohen when he was a junior analyst at Dun & Bradstreet.

A former chairman of the Municipal Analyst Group of New York and member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, Cohen was known to have trained and influenced scores of analysts in the foundational credit approaches she was instrumental in developing during her years at both Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.

“She probably had as large an impact on the development of municipal credit analysis as anyone and trained countless analysts, including me, who were just entering the business,” Bill Oliver, an independent consultant and retired media liaison for NFMA, who knew Cohen while working for 20 years at Alliance Bernstein.

Her colleagues at MAGNY said she had a “lasting impact in the municipal bond analysis industry.”

A generalist, Cohen was especially renowned for her work on state credits and was highly respected throughout the municipal bond industry and among state and local government finance professionals, according to a MAGNY press release.

Central to her analytical approach was distinguishing and emphasizing structural and longer-term credit risks and protections from shorter-term factors and temporal issues, according to the release.

“Throughout her long career, she was hands-on — prolific in her writings and public speaking engagements and actively participated in many industry organizations,” the release said.

“Claire was outspoken and projected an energetic and profound presence in any setting — whether a rating committee, an issuer meeting, or an industry event,” it continued.

Her career in the municipal industry was long and meaningful, according to colleagues.

“This is quite a shock,” George Friedlander, chief executive officer and municipal market, and policy and credit strategist at George Friedlander and Associates. “To me, Claire was always much more youthful in her mind than in her chronological years,” said Friedlander, whose municipal strategist career spans over 40 years. “Her muni knowledge base and presentation skills were world class. If you presented her with a hypothetical topic, she could turn it into a full-blown analysis in a matter of days.”

A graduate of Radcliffe College, she began her career at Dun & Bradstreet and later Moody’s after the two firms merged in 1961.

“We worked together until I joined S&P in 1963, but stayed in touch as colleagues in the industry,” Grossman recalled.

She served in many roles at Moody’s, including as rating committee member and chair until her departure in 1989 when she seized the chance to create “something new” at Fitch, which had been recently purchased by Russell Fraser.

She lent the start-up agency instant credibility at a time when critics accused rating agencies of being too institutional, and of lacking integrity and service, those who knew her said.

She joined the newly restructured Fitch as vice chairman, where she worked to establish the rating agency as “a viable competitor to Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s,” MAGNY said.

“Claire was already a living legend when she came to Fitch in 1989 and I had the great fortune to join at that time and work and get close to her over the ensuing years,” Rich Raphael, now president of Verify Financial and former managing director and head of U.S. public finance at Fitch.

Soon after joining Fitch, Cohen was recognized by New York magazine as among the 100 Smartest New Yorkers for her “ability to see the flesh-and-blood community beyond the spreadsheet,” in addition to winning industry awards including the first-team All-Star municipal analysts team.

She “provided the intellectual discipline to rectify opposing credit philosophies, be more responsive to the market, and create what was widely regarded then as the most incisive credit reports,” Raphael, who succeeded Cohen at Fitch when she retired in 2004, recalled.

“Absolutely no one could keep up with her then or in the years that followed,” he added.

Despite retiring, she continued with the firm for two years as a part-time consultant.

In 2007, she joined Public Resources Advisory Group as a part-time senior counselor where she worked until her retirement in 2016.

In addition to MAGNY and NFMA, she was also a member of the Society of Municipal Analysts; served as a Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council member, and was an educational resource to the National Association of State Treasurers, which presented her with its Corporate Affiliate Award for her contributions.

Her research and analysis of municipal indebtedness — from legal, statutory, and institutional frameworks to debt affordability analysis — were recognized by the organization and the municipal bond community at large.

Other industry awards included Career Achievement Awards from the NFMA and the Municipal Forum of New York, as she was recognized for “her legendary analytical prowess and quest to broaden and deepen her knowledge.”

She was also honored with a Trailblazing Women in Public Finance award in 2013 at The Bond Buyer’s Deal of the Year Awards.

“Claire was a dynamo in the public finance industry,” said Freda Johnson. “She was well respected for her intelligence and hard work. She dedicated her long business career to state and local government finance.”

“For those who did not have the good fortune to know or work with Claire, her knowledge base was vast, filled from her deep experience and a prodigious memory,” the MAGNY release said. “She was incisive in her analysis and questions, as anyone who participated in a rating committee with her would know. She would challenge people but, in doing so, raise standards.”

“Those close to her knew that there was a lot of compassion underneath,” the release continued. “She did not embrace technology; however, armed with a typewriter or keyboard and data derived from a calculator powered by her enormous intelligence, Claire would hammer out a full credit report in one sitting — a lost art to most these days.”

“She stayed informed and current until the end,” the release added. “She was one of a kind, and we will miss her.”

Her legacy will live on for many decades to come in the municipal industry, according to her former colleagues.

“She affected so many people in our industry and through her long career helped shape much of the credit approaches that will continue to ripple through our industry for some time to come,” Raphael, her longtime colleague at Fitch, added.

She is survived by her son Jim, a sister jean Smith, one niece and one nephew.

A memorial service is being planned in New York City.