Sigmund Cohn was a prosperous metallurgical chemist, born in New York City. He died in February 1951, and was cremated on February 4 at the FerncliffCrematorium on the grounds of the Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum (Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York). Sigmund Cohn began his business career by partnering with David Belais in 1901 to form Belais & Cohn, at 13 Dutch Street, near the Financial District in lower Manhattan. When Belais & Cohn dissolved in 1917, Belais remained at 13 Dutch Street and, partnering with his brother Henry Belais, resumed business under the name Belais Brothers. Belais Brothers went out of business in 1929. Shortly after the dissolution of Belais & Cohn in 1917, Cohn moved to 44 Gold Street (about 2 blocks east of 13 Dutch Street) and resumed his business under the name Sigmund Cohn Manufacturing Company Inc. Over the years this company (whose main office was at 44 Gold Street at least from 1919 to 1950) became very successful and expanded to become several different companies, in different states. The parent company, which relocated to Mount Vernon, New York, now operates under the name the Sigmund Cohn Corporation. From the beginning of his career in 1901, Cohn was engaged primarily in the business of platinum refining and in the manufacture of precious metal platinum alloys for the jewelry industry. In the 1900-1925 period, the jewelry industry was by far the largest consumer of platinum alloys. As of 2013, the corporation, via its several companies, specializes in manufacturing precious and base metal products, and supplies approximately 20 different industries, including aerospace, defense, medical devices, semiconductors, temperature measurement and control, automotive components, jewelry, and electronics. After Sigmund Cohn's death, his son Adolph Cohn became President and Director of Research of the Sigmund Cohn Corporation. The current President and CEO of Sigmund Cohn Corporation is Thomas A. Cohn, a great-grandson of Sigmund. For additional documentation on the history of Belais & Cohn and the Sigmund Cohn Manufacturing Company Inc., see http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?page=1&xmldoc=19478716gztcm865_1664.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985&SizeDisp=7 - Cohn v. Commissioner 6 T.C.M. 865 (1947) (Sigmund Cohn v. Commissioner. Docket No. 9659. United States Tax Court. Entered July 18, 1947)
The first edition of A Course in Miracles was published in 1975 as a 4-volume set of books. Vol. 1 contains Chapters 1-14 of the "Text" section of the Course, Vol. 2 contains Chapters 15-30 of the "Text" section, Vol. 3 contains the "Workbook" section, and Vol. 4 contains the "Teacher's Manual" section. The Foundation for Parasensory Investigation, founded and run by Judith Skutch and her second husband, Robert E. Skutch, published the first edition of the Course and also held the 1975 copyright to the work. The Freeperson Press, a small, privately owned printing/publishing company at 325 Ninth Street in San Francisco, California, did the actual printing and binding of the first edition. The edition published by the Foundation for Inner Peace claims that the course "was published in three volumes in June 1976". The first edition consisted of 300 sets of the four-volume Course. These 300 sets were printed and bound over several months in 1975 by the Freeperson Press. Eleanor Camp Criswell, the press's owner/manager, was in charge of the printing and binding, and it has become customary to call the first edition the "Criswell edition" or the "Freeperson Press edition".
Criswell printed only 100 sets of Course at a time as they were needed for sale and distribution, so the first edition is actually three separate printings of the books. The "first printing" of the first edition, consisting of the first 100 four-volume sets Criswell printed, were bound in yellow covers. The "second printing", consisting of the next 100 sets she printed, were bound in white covers. The "third printing", consisting of the final 100 sets she printed, were bound in blue covers. By February 1976, all 300 sets of the Criswell edition had been sold and/or distributed.
Judith (born Judith M. Rothstein) married Robert Edward Skutch in 1966 (it was Judith's second marriage), but they divorced (on friendly terms) in 1980. Later in the 1980s, Judith Skutch married William Wallace "Whit" Whitson and became known as Judith Skutch Whitson.
Eleanor Camp Criswell became known as Eleanor Criswell Hanna [Wikidata] after her marriage to philosopher Thomas Louis Hanna in 1974. Thomas L. Hanna was the originator of Hanna Somatics, aka Hanna Somatic Education. In 1975 Thomas and Eleanor co-founded the Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training in Novato, California.
