Remembering Activist Debby Lee Cohen

Many in the community have been following the landlord-tenant dispute at 310 East 12th Street and 305 East 11th Street. Some residents were allegedly evicted after these connected properties were purchased by an investment firm in August, 2022. Others reportedly received huge rent increases and fearing displacement, immediately organized.

The tenants organized. They held a rally, contacted the media, and formed the GoldinFinch Tenant Association, named for two residents, famed housing activist Frances Goldin and art critic Charlie Finch. Goldin passed away in 2020 (click here to access the oral history we conducted with Goldin in 2014) and Finch died from suicide in 2022, reportedly after becoming despondent when he thought he might lose his apartment of 45 years.

Another noted activist who lived in one of the buildings for over forty years was Debby Lee Cohen. Cohen passed away on April 7, 2024, at the age of 64. She was a renowned artist, animator, and educator. But her most impactful and longest-lasting influence may be her anti-plastic and environmental activism.

Debbie grew up in Maryland and moved to New York City in 1981. She was a landscape painter and designed props for theater, television, and film for over 25 years. She designed scenery for countless productions, including the lead puppets for the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade for eight years.

Her commitment to volunteerism and giving back to her community was notable. In addition to teaching at Parsons the New School, she taught at-risk teens, inmates, seniors, and thousands of NYC public school students.

Debby Lee was a passionate environmentalist. In 2009 she founded Cafeteria Culture as Styrofoam Out of Schools. She led the campaign that eliminated more than half a billion toxic styrofoam trays per year from public school student meals in New York City and eighteen other cities across the country. ​Her efforts to achieve equitable zero waste in public schools paved the way for New York City’s 2019, and New York State’s 2022, styrofoam bans.

Through arts, education, and action, working primarily with low-income, immigrant public school children she launched Plastic Free Lunch Days in schools, eliminating over 13 million pieces of single-use plastic to date in New York City, with countless more in the over forty school districts nationally that have since adopted this strategy.

From 2013 until her passing, Debby Lee served as a member of the Manhattan Citizen’s Solid Waste Advisory Board. She received a Proclamation from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer in recognition of her zero-waste activism and leadership, declaring December 12th, 2018 as “Debby Lee Cohen Day.” She also served as Steering Group Chair for the Plastic Free Waters Partnership NY/NJ and in 2022 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling.

In the midst of her art and activism, Debby Lee had an active personal life. She married her husband John T. Molloy in 1994 and is survived by two daughters, a stepdaughter, two grandchildren, and siblings.