Geraldine Cogin Schwartz, a Poughkeepsie Resident, Dies at 93

Geraldine Cogin (Jerry) Schwartz died on June 23, 2016, at the age of 93. She lived at the Fountains in Millbrook, after residing in the town of Poughkeepsie for almost 60 years. She was predeceased by her husband, Robert S. (Bob) Schwartz.
Jerry was a trailblazer for women in science. She received a Ph.D. in 1943 in physical chemistry from Columbia University, was a post-doctoral fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City, and had a research career at IBM in the area of “thin films” for semiconductor interconnections. She was one of the first women to become an IBM senior engineer, and was the first woman elected a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society.
A daughter of Lena Barcan and Meyer Cogin, public school teachers, she grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1939. She majored in chemistry at Brooklyn College, where she was often the only woman in advanced science classes, and graduated magna cum laude in 1943. She and Bob were married the following September. Both worked on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University, and then Jerry began her Ph.D. studies there.
After having children and then moving to Poughkeepsie when Bob took a position at IBM, she became active in civic causes. When Bob died in 1964, Jerry began her career at IBM. She published many papers in scientific journals and was an inventor on more than a dozen patents. After retiring from IBM in 1992, she consulted on patent litigation and edited and contributed to the Handbook of Interconnection Technology.
Jerry balanced being a single mother, working, and serving on the library board. She was an excellent cook, enjoyed playing tennis and listening to classical music, and loved reading—especially mystery novels.
Jerry was predeceased by her sister, Phyllis Cogin Kanterman. She is survived by daughters Anne M. Schwartz and her husband Daniel Levitan and Frances Schwartz Wheeler and her husband Tobin, and four grandchildren, Rebecca and Abe Levitan and Gus and Archer Wheeler.
Funeral services will be held at the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery at 1 p.m. on Monday, June 27, 2016.
Contributions may be made in her memory to the Friends of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District, 93 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Allen Funeral Home, Millbrook.