Robert B. Cohen | Founded chain, 86

Magazine distributor Robert B. Cohen, 86, who built the Hudson News chain of newsstands from one store at LaGuardia Airport and changed the way travelers spend their downtime, has died.

Mr. Cohen was already a giant in the magazine and newspaper distribution business when he decided to launch a retail chain in 1987. His stores were a break from the claustrophobic newsstands of the past, boasting hundreds of magazines instead of just a few dozen, with tall racks and bright lighting that invited customers to browse. His son, James Cohen, called it a "new-concept newsstand."

Robert Cohen died Wednesday at his home in Palm Beach, Fla., of complications from a neurological disease called progressive supranuclear palsy, his son said.

A native of Bayonne, N.J., Mr. Cohen took over his father's small newspaper distribution company, the Hudson County News Co., in 1947. By the 1970s, it had become the biggest magazine wholesaler in the United States.

Mr. Cohen made his first foray into retail by taking over a bankrupt newsstand at a terminal of the Newark, N.J., airport in the 1970s. He opened the first Hudson News at LaGuardia Airport.

Instead of forcing customers to jockey around a counter to read headlines, Hudson News stores encouraged browsing. They were a hit with air travelers looking to kill time between flights.

"It was all based on the not-so-scientific fact that people really like to read stuff when they go on a plane," James Cohen said.

The chain now has more than 600 stores across the country, including in most major airports. In 2008, Mr. Cohen sold a majority stake in the chain. - AP