David Jacob Cohen OBE (died 9 February 1959) was an Indian politician and a leading figure of the Baghdadi Jewish community in Calcutta. He served as honorary secretary of the Beth-El Synagogue.Roland, Joan G. The Jewish Communities of India: Identity in a Colonial Era. New Brunswick [u.a.]: Transaction Publ, 1998. p. 117 Cohen, then serving as vice president of the Calcutta Jewish Association, was to the Bengal Legislative Council from the Calcutta South Central non-Mohammedan constituency in 1921.The Indian Year Book, Vol. 8–9. Bennett, Coleman & Company, 1921. p. 65 Being elected to the Legislative Council was the highest political office obtained by a Calcutta Jew.Roland, Joan G. The Jewish Communities of India: Identity in a Colonial Era. New Brunswick [u.a.]: Transaction Publ, 1998. p. 338 He was defeated in the 1923 election, but was nominated by the Governor to remain in the Council in 1923 and 1926.Egorova, Yulia. Jews and India: Perceptions and Image. London: Routledge, 2006. pp. 92-93
Cohen was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1941.JTA. Retrieved 14 November 2014
Cohen died on 9 February 1959 at the age of 75.Adler, Cyrus and Henrietta Szold. The American Jewish Year Book, Vol. 62. American Jewish Committee, 1961. p. 381
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