Mourning the Loss of Fritzi Cohen

An early believer of Slow Food and Heritage Foods, we mourn the loss of the great Fritzi Cohen, founder and former owner of the historic and now Employee-Owned Dupont Circle boutique hotel and restaurant, Tabard Inn.

Fritzi Cohen, co-founder and self-described “matriarch” of the fabled Tabard Inn, philanthropist, and a lifelong advocate for peace, justice, and the environment, passed away on December 20, 2022.

With boundless energy and enthusiasm, Fritzi’s extraordinary life was dedicated to continual discovery and pursuing eclectic interests where good food, music, theatre, and art mixed with political pursuits for peace and justice.  Though serious in her activism, a warrior for peace, she also brought an engaging vitality, an easy laugh, a singular sartorial flair, and, as a friend noted: “Fritzi put the ‘f’ in ‘fun.’”  And, sometimes unexpectedly, her wry humor captured the essence of an issue.  A bumper sticker displayed in the D.C. home she shared with her husband and three children illustrates this: “If you think the system’s working, then ask the man who isn’t.”

Born in Racine, Wisconsin, on June 13, 1938, Fritzi (née Felice Davis) graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wisconsin.  She continued her education and became one of the first of two women to receive a law degree at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

After law school she moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for Representative Robert Kastenmeier (D—WI).  She quickly became a prominent lawyer and activist spearheading numerous political and cultural initiatives such as the U.S.-Moscow Sister City project, which brought the Kirov and Bolshoi ballet companies to the Kennedy Center, and sparked other cultural exchanges that included ice skaters, chefs, musicians, and cosmonauts.  With characteristic zeal and vigor, Fritzi served as a D.C. delegate for Robert Kennedy’s bid for the presidency while pregnant with her third child.

An intrepid seeker of truth, in the 1970s and ‘80s Fritzi was a lead attorney of the Military Audit Project, which led to exposing Pentagon cost overruns such as purchasing $700 hammers, and also included a bold lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense, exposing a secret operation involving the CIA, billionaire Howard Hughes’ Glomar Explorer, and a sunken Russian submarine.  Furthering her quest for peacemaking, she also played a key role in passing the D.C. Nuclear Weapons Freeze Zone referendum.