Rachel Cowan

She was born Rachel Ann Brown, the oldest of four children in Princeton, N.J. She got a BA from Bryn Mawr College and a MSW from University of Chicago.[1] Cowan came from a Protestant family[3] that included descendants who arrived in America on the Mayflower.[4]

Cowan was a trained social worker.[5] Cowan was the first Jewish convert to be ordained by the reform movement’s Hebrew Union College.[6]

She was the program director for Jewish life at The Nathan Cummings Foundation for 14 years.[7] Cowan founded Purple Circle Early Childhood Program School, a parent cooperative in 1970. She also co-founded the Jewish Healing Center in 1990[8] and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. [9] Prior to her death, Cowan took on a mission to underscore the human side of healthcare policies.[10]

Cowan and her husband were active in the Ansche Chesed synagogue in Manhattan where they were involved in its resurgence.

Among Cowan’s writings are “Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience & Spirit”[11] which she cowrote with Dr. Linda Thal, and “Mixed Blessings: Overcoming the Stumbling Blocks in an Interfaith Marriage” which she cowrote with her husband Paul Cowan.[12]

In 2007 and 2012 she was named as one of 50 influential rabbis by Newsweek magazine. In 2010 she was listed as one of the 50 most influential female rabbis by The Forward.[13] [14]She was the subject of a 2020 film by Paula Weiman-Kelman, [15] “Dying Doesn’t Feel Like What I am Doing,” documenting her experience with glioblastoma, aggressive brain cancer.[16] [17]

Cowan married author and Village Voice journalist Paul Cowan in 1965. She converted to Judaism fifteen years after their marriage. The couple were active social and civil rights activists and spent time on Peace Corps missions in Ecuador.[18] Paul died of cancer at 48 years old.[5] The couple had two children, Matthew and Lisa.[3]