Alex Jacob Cohn, 18; brought grace to skiing, friendships

Putting people at ease was so effortless for Alex Jacob Cohn.

"Alex was born with a great sense of humor," said his mother, Carol Kaplan. "From the time he was pretty young, we have so many pictures of him fooling around with his brother, laughing at jokes that you wouldn't think a baby that age would get."

A competitive freestyle skier who put more emphasis on the skiing than the competition, Mr. Cohn was on the threshold of adulthood and college when he died of viral encephalitis Monday in Newton-Wellesley Hospital. He was 18 and had lived with his family in Weston while attending his senior year at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill.

Connecticut College had accepted Mr. Cohn by early decision, and though he had not charted the course his life would take after home and high school, tributes friends posted on the Internet suggest he could have simply majored in affability.

"One of the kids said, 'Alex, you're the kind of kid that no matter mood I was in, when I would see you, you would make me smile,' " his mother said.

He had a rare gift of using wit and words to make others feel part of the group, said Joe Christy, a math teacher at Beaver Country Day School.

"He was clever, and he was creative about the way he used his sense of humor," Christy said. "It wasn't as if when everyone was laughing, there was someone we were laughing at. We were all laughing together, and that's what he was able to do."

"It was timing," said Christy, who had Mr. Cohn as a student the past three years. "It's almost as if he knows when to use it and when not to use it. If you're in a class and, for lack of a better word, there's a tense moment, he's the one to break that."

Four years younger than his brother, Zachary, who attends the University of Wisconsin, Mr. Cohn and his only sibling "had a very special relationship," their mother said. "They talked on the phone almost every day. They've always been close, and Zach has always been incredibly proud of Alex."

Using video equipment and computers, Mr. Cohn and his brother put together short videos of freestyle skiing, posting them on YouTube and other Internet sites. In some, Mr. Cohn was both producer and featured skier.

Born into a family that loves to spend time on the slopes, Mr. Cohn was 3 when he took his first run. By adolescence he was drawn to the artistry of freestyle skiing.

During his junior year, Mr. Cohn spent the winter term training and studying at Mount Snow Academy in West Dover, Vt., his parents said, and became so adroit that he finished fifth in his age group during a national freestyle competition in California.

Still, his mother said, "it was really just about perfecting his own skill. The competition part was secondary. . . . He just cared that he kept getting better at it and that he had so much fun doing it with his friends."

Mr. Cohn, whose dyslexia sometimes made schoolwork challenging, "came back more focused," his mother said. "That experience strengthened him so much."

"He was a wonderful kid," said his father, Rick. "There was something special about him."

"His brother and I were talking last night, and Zach said, 'He was becoming such a good person; I just wanted to see who he was going to be,' " his mother said. "Zach said he just doesn't even know what he's going to do now. And Zach has lots of good friends, but it's just not the same."

In addition to his parents and brother, Mr. Cohn leaves his grandparents, June and Seymour Cohn of Selma, Ala., and Ziona Kaplan-Weber of West Hartford.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. today in Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill.