LISCR Founder and Chairman Emeritus Yoram Cohen Passes Away

LISCR founder Yoram Cohen and associates — Yoram Cohen, center, at a ceremony in his honor at the Liberia Maritime Training Institute, 2022 (Liberia Maritime Authority)

Yoram Cohen, chairman emeritus of the Liberian Registry, has passed away at the age of 67. Together with U.S attorney Lester Hyman, Cohen took over the U.S.-managed Liberian flag with the creation of the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry (LISCR) in the late 1990s, during a difficult period of civil strife in Liberia. He helped the Liberian government maintain flag services and increase the size of its flagged fleet.

LISCR expanded rapidly in the 2000s and 2010s, and it has continued to prosper in recent years under the joint 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 rescued the Registry during an acutely difficult time and made it flourish," Adam and Elan Cohen said in a statement. "His creative imagination was unmatched and allowed him to build multiple businesses and commercial teams. He was a mentor to so many and is responsible for such much of Liberia’s local economic development."

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

"He was really a friend and a brother," said Dr. George Manneh Weah, President of Liberia, in a statement Sunday. "We came a long way after we developed a bond during the twilight of my football career."