One of the original founding partners of Cohan-Epner, Emmanuel Cohan was an American-born son of Hungarian immigrants. In 1910, he and his brother-in-law, Louis Epner, formed a jewlry repair company. The plating was incidental to the repair function, but eventually became the focus of the business. Emmanuel was the “inside man” of the company. Like Louis, Emmanuel had limited education, but ran his business with an iron fist. He died in 1957.