SERVICE
Food for Thought
Gerald Morris Cohn ’ 84 was not born
on a farm. He grew up in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
where he expected to find a spot in a family
camera business that went back three generations. But as a student at UNC, Cohn developed a fascination with Africa. That led him to
Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for work on a graduate degree and where he began to find his
true calling.
“There you see food sold by the side of the
road,” Cohn says. “Food is much more integrated in daily life.” That image led to a major
lifestyle change when Cohn, back in
Washington, D.C., heard about a chance to
work on an organic farm in Virginia.
“I liked working outside, selling, eating
good food,” Cohn says, “but I knew nothing
about farming.”
Following his instincts, Cohn moved to the
Virginia farm, moved on to another farm in
California, returned to graduate school in
agricultural economics and arrived back in
Gerald Morris Cohn ’ 84 was inspired to become a farmer
after seeing the way fresh food was part of life in Africa.
COURTESY OF GERALD MORRIS COHN ’ 84
built from a corn crib and finally in the renovated farm house.
Along the way, Cohn worked for the Rural
Advancement Foundation International and
the American Farmland Trust. He bred turkeys
and got involved in the growing local food
movement. This year, he became Southeast
regional farmer coordinator for Organic Valley,
a cooperative of family farmers. Organic Valley
originated in dairy-rich Wisconsin, but the
cooperative is national. Cohn’s role is to
increase membership in the region and to support local farmers in agricultural issues such as
soil improvement and animal care. Organic
Valley products are available in small stores like
Weaver Street Market and large chains like
Lowes and Harris Teeter.
Working with farmers is more than a
career choice for Cohn. It is a statement about
how he wants to see the world evolve. “It’s
important to eat locally,” Cohn says, “because
you are supporting the local economy and
the environment. Farms provide green area,
habitat protection and open space. People
have an opportunity to impact the quality of
life where they live with their food purchase.”
North Carolina keen to make use of both his
economic expertise and his hands. Scouring
the countryside for abandoned farms, he and
his wife bought 60 acres in Snow Camp, lived
first in a tent in the old barn, then in a cottage
MEDICINE
SUSAN SIMONE
were not being administered correctly, and many
Learning to
teachers had not been to
a doctor for years. In
Be Healthy
addition to pamphlets
with information on
A quick pass through a common health problems,
school might leave the Miller’s group handed out
impression that teachers are pedometers and asked
on the move all day long teachers to keep a walk-keeping up with their stu- ing log. “Teachers tend to
dents. For those who work not have much time for
at a desk or at least pass their exercise,” Miller says.
workday among other “They feel busy and on
adults, it looks like quite a their feet, but that does
workout. not measure on a
Not true. In fact, being Dr. Paula Freeman Miller ’ 83 (MD) says that pedometer.”
around kids might be Faced with the facts,
despite being on their feet all day, teachers
need to take more steps to stay healthy.
demanding, and even stress- many teachers were able
ful, but it’s not a viable alternative to healthy to shed pounds and lower blood pressure. It
eating and exercise. That’s what Dr. Paula was such a successful program that Miller and
Freeman Miller ’ 83 (MD) found out when Willis decided to take it into all of the Orange
she teamed up with Stephanie K. Willis ’ 91 County schools. Miller went looking for funds
(MPH), Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools health and this year received a $25,000 grant from
coordinator, to take the pulse of Orange the Alpha Phi fraternity Heart to Heart pro-County teachers. gram, allowing the program to continue for
The program began with health fairs spon- the next three years.
sored by Pfizer. Miller found that many teach- Miller has brought her crusade to her own
ers were above a healthy body mass index, workplace, UNC Hospitals. “We provide test-some even classified as obese. Often medica- ing [weight, blood pressure, cholesterol,
tions for chronic conditions such as diabetes triglycerides, blood sugar] for anyone who
works at UNC Hospitals,” she says. “We aim at
food-service workers, hospital police and
housekeeping staff. Many of these people have
not been to the doctor for five years or more.”
Miller also is a proponent of the ubiquitous
installation of defibrillators; she knows their
value firsthand. “Someone collapsed in the row
beside me,” Miller says, describing her own
experience on an airplane flight. “The woman
behind was an ER doctor from Duke, and she
did CPR, and I did the pads. It worked. The
man survived. Anyone can use them. You just
follow the instructions.”
— Stories by Susan Simone
Read extended pieces in Class Notes:
Feature Profiles
James Reston Jr. ’ 63, page 73
C. Holland Taylor ’ 78, page 79
Dr. Lucy Blackford Gibney ’ 85, page 80
Jason Kilar ’ 93, page 83
In Memoriam
Martin Knowlton ’ 49 (MA), page 60
William Frederic Little ’ 52 (MA, ’ 55 PhD), page 64
Read additional pieces online:
In Memoriam — Honorary degree recipients:
John Hope Franklin ’ 79 (LLDH)
Archie Green ’ 79 (LITDH)
See April news headlines online at
alumni.unc.edu.
