Trudy Cohen, 83, Opera Company photographer

Trudy Cohen, 83, a photographer and longtime Center City resident, died Wednesday, July 8, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Born in New York City, Mrs. Cohen graduated from Hunter High School there. She attended classes for three years at the University of Richmond in Virginia in 1952.

In 1976, after marrying and moving to Philadelphia, Mrs. Cohen completed a bachelor's degree in photography from Moore College of Art and Design.

From 1977 to 1994, she was the official photographer for the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

She also was the photographer for the Philadelphia Singers and the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition sponsored by the opera company in 1981, 1985, 1989, and 1993.

Her true gifts, however, were perhaps best expressed in landscape photography. She traveled to Japan, Slovenia, Wales, Scotland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, taking pictures as she went.

Some of her images are on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Bryn Mawr College; and Thomas Jefferson University.

"Photography has been a long and wonderful journey," she was quoted as saying on fellow photographer Thomas Kellner's website. "There are places I respond to with a sense of curiosity and mystery. Light, distortion, and texture create an emotion more important than content."

One of Mrs. Cohen's passions was making the arts available to all. She led the Evenings in the Park program in Rittenhouse Square from 1967 to 1970. The program of the Center City Residents Association provided opera and orchestra entertainment.

Mrs. Cohen enjoyed world travel, gardening, gourmet cooking, and watching golf on TV.

She was a member of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and attended Philadelphia Orchestra concerts. She was a member of the Cosmopolitan Club of Philadelphia, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, and the Art Museum's Alfred Stieglitz Center.

She is survived by daughters Debra Devor, Patricia, and Margaret, and two grandchildren. Her husband of 50 years, Stanley N., died in September 2003.

Services were Sunday, July 12. Burial was private.

Donations may be directed to the Alfred Stieglitz Center. Checks should be made payable to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Box 7646, Philadelphia 19101.

610-313-8102