LISCR Founder and Chairman Emeritus Yoram Cohen dies

Yoram Cohen, Chair Emeritus of the Liberian Registry, has died at the age of 67. Along with US Attorney Lester Hyman, Cohen adopted the US-administered flag of Liberia in the late 1990s, during a difficult period of Liberia’s civil war, with the establishment of the Liberian International Ship and Company Records (LISCR). He helped the Liberian government maintain flag services and increase the size of its flag fleet.

LISCR expanded rapidly in the 2000s and 2010s and has continued to grow in recent years under the co-chairmanship of Yoram Cohen’s sons, Adam and Elan Cohen. It is now the fastest growing major flag registry.

“Yoram was a consummate optimist and risk taker. So original in everything he did. He saved and thrived the registry at an acutely difficult time,” Adam and Elan Cohen said in a statement. “His creative imagination was second to none and enabled him to build multiple companies and commercial teams. He has been a mentor to so many and is responsible for so much of Liberia’s local economic development.”

Yoram Cohen also founded Cellcom, a Liberian mobile operator later acquired by French telecom company Orange, and he played a role in the revitalization of the Liberia Maritime Training Institute.

“He really was a friend and brother,” said Dr. George Manneh Weah, President of Liberia, in a statement on Sunday. “We’ve come a long way having formed a bond in the twilight of my football career.”