The man who grew the Hudson News chain from a single store in LaGuardia Airport in 1987 to roughly 600 newsstands, bookstores, cafés, and specialty stores in the U.S. and Canada, Robert B. Cohen, died on February 1 at his home in Palm Beach Fla. He was 86.
In 1947, Cohen took over the Hudson News Co., a newspaper distribution company in New Jersey founded by the Cohen family in 1918. Hudson had become the largest magazine wholesaler in the U.S. by the time it launched its retail division. What distinguished Hudson’s stores were the breadth of magazines they carried, which were displayed to encourage travelers to browse, and their bright lighting. In 2007, the Cohen family sold a large portion of their interest in the Hudson Group to a private equity firm, Advent International Corporation. The following year it merged with Dufry AG.
In addition to his son, James, Cohen is survived by his wife, Harriet, a daughter-in-law and six grandchildren.
