Cosman, Francene, 1941-

Francene Cosman was born on 14 January 1941, in Windsor, Ont., the daughter of McCarthy and Dorothy Machel. She obtained her RN in 1962 from Saint John General Hospital, then undertook post-graduate work in teaching and administration in New Jersey in 1963. She married twice (1) David Killam Cosman, an engineer, in 1964; they had two daughters; and (2) Aza Avramovitch, an architect, in 1998. The latter died in 1999. In the early 1970s Cosman was active in community affairs in the Bedford area, particularly in regard to municipal planning and development. She was a Halifax County councillor, 1976-1979; and the first mayor of the town of Bedford, 1979-1982. From 1982-1986 she was president of the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women; subsequently she chaired the Liberal Task Force on the Concerns of Women and wrote its major report in 1987. She was executive director of the Nova Scotia Liberal Association, 1989-1993. She was first elected as Liberal MLA for Bedford-Fall River in the general election of 1993, and was re-elected in 1997. She was appointed to cabinet in 1997 as minister of community services, also responsible for the Advisory Council on the Status of Women and the Disabled Persons' Commission Act, and chair of the Senior Citizen's Secretariat. In 1998 she was given the additional portfolio of human resources. She served as party whip and deputy speaker of the House. In the general election of July 1999 she chose not to run and retired from the legislature.