Gossip columnist, socialite and television reporter Claudia Lynn Cohen died yesterday shortly before 5p.m. at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she was treated for complications of ovarian cancer. Her family annouced that a memorial service will be held at noon Monday at Manhattan's Central Synagogue, 682 Lexington Ave. at 55th St.

Cohen started out as a journalist in 1976 she joined the New York Post as a reporter for its fledgling gossip column Page Six. She was named editor in 1978 and left the publication in 1980 to pursue her own gossip column, I, Claudia at another newspaper. Cohen met corporate heavyweight Ronald Perelman in 1984 and married him in 1985. They divorced nine years later following Perelman's adultery with socialite Patrica Duff, but remained on good terms. The couple have a daughter, Samantha.

Cohen eventually became a regular on Live with Regis and Kelly and an active member of the Manhattan and Hamptons social scene.

"Claudia was a remarkable, dynamic woman, a terrific mother and also our best friend. She will be missed by everyone who knew her," Perelman said. "Claudia passed away with her family around her," Perelman and Cohen's daughter, Samantha Perelman, said in a statement. "She was a remarkable, dynamic woman, a terrific mother and also our best friend."

Perelman, an observant Jew, was once the richest man in America and now has a wealth of around $7 billion. Cohen was also Jewish.