Robin Cogan, renowned Camden school nurse and national health and safety advocate, has died at 65
Her website, blog, frequent podcast appearances, and wide-ranging institutional activism gave voice to school nursing stories, and combated gun violence and other pressing problems.
The letters that follow Robin Cogan’s name represent some of health care’s most impressive achievements. NCSN, nationally certified school nurse. FNASN, fellow of the National Academy of School Nursing. FAAN, fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Also, RN and MEd.
Then there are the awards. Two-time President’s Award winner from the National Association of School Nurses. The 2017 Population Health Hero Award from the New Jersey Department of Health. The Johnson & Johnson 2017 School Nurse of the Year. And many more.
Robin Cogan joined the Camden City School District as a school nurse in 2001 after training earlier as an art therapist and spending 14 years as a psychiatric clinical nurse and corporate health services manager. It was with the school district, its students, families, and staff, where she really found her groove.
For nearly three decades, Robin Cogan championed school safety and population healthcare, and advocated tirelessly for school nurses everywhere. Her website, blog, frequent podcast appearances, and wide-ranging institutional activism gave voice to school nursing stories, and combated gun violence and other pressing problems.
She started blogging on RelentlessSchoolNurse.com in 2017 and cocreated the No More Empty Desks student art campaign in 2019 to memorialize students killed in gun violence. “Robin’s national reach and advocacy know no bounds,” a Camden colleague said on Facebook. “Robin Cogan is the embodiment of the school nursing profession.”
On May 10, Robin Cogan blogged: “The profession is better, and so are countless children, because of the relentless, brilliant nurses who choose school nursing year after year.”
On Thursday, June 11, Robin Cogan died of cancer at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. She was 65.
“Robin dedicated her life to caring for others,” Pamela K. Clark, president of the Camden Education Association, said in a tribute. “Her work extended far beyond the walls of our schools, leaving a lasting impact on the profession she loved.”
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Born in Philadelphia, Mrs. Cogan graduated from Cherry Hill West High School in 1978 and earned a bachelor’s degree in art therapy and psychology in 1982 at what is now the College of New Jersey in Trenton. She gained her nursing credentials at the Helene Fuld College of Nursing in New York and Rowan University, and earned a master’s degree in clinical, counseling, and applied psychology at Wilmington University in Delaware in 2009.
As a school nurse in Camden, she oversaw more than 900 students from preschool through eighth grade at Cooper’s Poynt School and most recently more than 400 students at three preschools. She took temperatures, counseled worried parents, and personally helped thousands of people weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She influenced policy, championed health equity, elevated the role of school nurses,” a colleague said on Facebook, “and reminded us that one person truly can create ripples that become waves.”
Mrs. Cogan was the New Jersey director for the National Association of School Nurses and taught in the school nurse certification program at Rutgers University-Camden. She earned grants, sat on boards, lectured around the country, wrote or cowrote dozens of columns, papers, and articles about health issues, and posted advice and information frequently on X, Bluesky, Facebook, and other online platforms.
She was featured in The Inquirer and other publications, and appeared on TV and radio programs, and podcasts. She focused on “shared values” to connect people, she said often, and posted the motto for her Relentless Nurse website on the homepage: “Be relentless in your practice whatever it is.”
Robin Michelle Cohen was born June 28, 1960. She met Ed Cogan in college, and they married in 1984, lived in Trenton and Cherry Hill, and had twin daughters Allie and Jill.
Mrs. Cogan was driven to address gun violence, she said, after her father survived a mass murder in Camden in 1949, and her niece survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. “I hope my legacy is helping solve this crisis,” she told The Inquirer in 2022. “Don’t we owe that to our kids?”
She was a talented painter and designed a popular pin that she and a friend sold in a home-based spiritual jewelry and art business. She loved nature and 1970s folk music. She enjoyed hosting Thanksgiving dinners and visiting the Jersey Shore. She was one-time president of the old Temple Emanuel Sisterhood in Cherry Hill.
“She was a helper,” said her daughter Allie. “She was good at relationships and never really turned off her working mind.”
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In addition to her husband and daughters, Mrs. Cogan is survived by a granddaughter, Nora, a nephew, Matthew, sisters Lori and Merri, and other relatives.
Private services were held earlier. A celebration of her life is to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to Brady: United Against Gun Violence, 840 First Street NE, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20002; and Grandparents for Vaccines.
