Roger Cohen (born 2 August 1955) is a journalist and author. He is a columnist for The New York Times and International New York Times. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in fifteen different countries.
Cohen was born in London to a Jewish family. His father, Sydney Cohen, a doctor, emigrated from South Africa to England in the 1950s. In the late 1960s, Roger studied at Westminster School, one of Britain's top private schools. He won a scholarship and would have entered College, the scholars' house, but was told that a Jew could not attend College or hold his particular scholarship (as the scholarship which was initially offered to him, was only intended for persons who professed the Christian faith, as he later learned while researching the affair). Instead, he received a different scholarship.
In 1973, Cohen travelled with friends throughout the Middle East, including Iran and Afghanistan. He drove a Volkswagen Kombi named 'Pigpen' after the late keyboard playing frontman of the Grateful Dead. (In the article cited, Cohen misidentifies Pigpen as a drummer.) He attended Balliol College, Oxford University. Cohen graduated with M.A. degrees in History and in French in 1977. He then left that year for Paris to teach English and to write for Paris Metro. He started working for Reuters and the agency transferred him to Brussels.