To accommodate all the people who owe Mathie Cohen a debt of gratitude, a football stadium might not suffice. He was a compassionate and caring doctor for whom time had no limits and kindness no boundaries. When he lived and practiced in Welkom, South Africa, he was everything to his patients – a general practitioner as well as a specialist in every possible field. His knowledge was an endless fountain from which all who came into contact with him were sustained.

When he and his family arrived in Israel, his Welkom patients who were already living here breathed a collective sigh of relief because they all felt safer and better cared for. Mathie never let them or anyone else down – he was available day and night, always ready to help. His down-to-earth common sense helped countless people through the hardest times. At Beilinson Hospital, he was once confronted by a bed which was not functioning as it should. Never fazed, he produced a length of plastic tubing and tied a knot learned from his boy scout days in Muizenberg. Later on, after he'd left the ward, a nurse walked in, saw the contraption, nodded, and said, “Dr. Cohen's been here, I see.” At Beilinson Hospital he was a living legend to patients and staff – they all recognized his professional ability as well as his special qualities, his interest in everyone he touched and his never-ending determination to provide the very best of care to all.

Always with Jean at his side, he was a model of everything a human being should be. His interests were varied and far-flung – a true Renaissance man from whom everyone could learn. Jean and their children Barbara, Norman, Rebecca and Jocelyn, their grandchildren, his sisters and the entire family have been bereaved, but they are joined by countless others who mourn Mathie's death and will never forget him.