Uzi Cohen

Uzi Cohen was born in 1952 in Tal Shahar

Uzi Cohen was born on May 1, 1952, in moshav Tal Shahar, into a family of 14 children. His parents, Nissim and Malka Cohen, moved to Ra'anana and ran a neighborhood grocery, and his father was also a synagogue cantor. He studied at the Yavne state religious school and later at the Porat Yosef yeshiva in Jerusalem.

He played on the Beitar Jerusalem youth soccer team and served in the army as an infantry soldier. After his father died in an accident, he helped his mother run the grocery and care for his siblings.

At 16 he joined the Liberal Party, part of Gahal, and in 1970 he became head of his neighborhood committee. He later worked as an aide to ministers Simcha Erlich and Moshe Nissim. Inside the Likud Central Committee he spoke openly about his influence on appointments, opposed the disengagement plan, and chose not to run for the Knesset.

He entered the Ra'anana city council in 1982 and led the opposition for 6 years. From 1990 he was deputy mayor under Ze'ev Bielski, responsible for areas such as sanitation, signage and parking. He proposed canals to make the city a Venice of the Middle East, but the plans were not carried out.

In 2005, after Bielski left to head the Jewish Agency, Cohen served as acting mayor, then lost the election with 12% of the vote and remained deputy mayor under Nahum Hofri. He was depicted on the satire show Eretz Nehederet, which led to claims of racism. He died of an apparent heart attack on January 18, 2008.