David Steven Cohen, an Emmy-winning writer and composer who served as head writer on “Courage the Cowardly Dog,” died March 15 of cancer in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was 66.
Born in Brooklyn, Cohen started out working with Steve Martin on a comedy-anthology series for CBS. He then became a writer for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and “ALF,” co-creating and executive producing NBC’s animated “ALFTales.”
On the teen comedy “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose,” Cohen served as co-executive producer and head writer, and also served as co-executive producer on Fox’s “Living Single.”
He co-wrote the animated feature “Balto” for exec producer Steven Spielberg.
Cohen received two Emmy nominations and a Writers Guild Award for Nickelodeon’s “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” and worked with Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert as consulting producer of Comedy Central’s “Strangers With Candy.”
Cartoon Network’s “Courage the Cowardly Dog” premiered in 1999 and ran for four seasons. Cartoon Network remembered Cohen on Instagram, writing “Thank you, David, for your work on the strangely beautiful world of Courage, lovingly adding to our childhood trauma while teaching poignant life lessons. How you’ve brought to life a scared but courageous little dog reminds us that we can do anything, even if we’re afraid.”
He was again Emmy-nominated for the PBS animated series “Arthur,” and won a Daytime Emmy in 2016 for PBS’ “Peg + Cat.”
As a lyricist and composer, Cohen had his songs performed by Elaine Stritch, Jimmy Fallon and more, and wrote music and soundtrack songs for movies and shows including “Space Racers” and “Clifford’s Really Big Movie.”
He also wrote the libretto for the opera “Lilith,” which premiered at Lincoln Center in 2001. Cohen’s long-time writing partner was Roger S.H. Shulman.
He is survived by his wife Andrea and two sons.
