Dr. Robert R. Cooper Jr.

1922 - 2015

Dr. Robert R. Cooper, Jr.

Elsewhere - Dr. Robert R. Cooper, Jr., (92)(COL, USAF, Ret.) died peacefully on July 8, 2015 in Florida. He was born on November 12, 1922 in Hartford, CT to Robert R. Cooper, Sr., and Hedwig Kohler Cooper. He graduated from Trinity College in Connecticut in 1943, after which he joined the Naval Reserve and enrolled in Yale Medical School, New Haven, CT, graduating in 1946.

After a 1-year internship at Oakland Naval Hospital, where he treated war casualties among others, he went to flight school in Pensacola, FL. As a member of Air Group 13 he served on carriers Princeton and Valley Forge from 1947-1949. In 1950 he was assigned to Jacksonville, FL, then from 1951-1952 ran a small hospital in Weeksville, NC. In 1953, Dr. Cooper was transferred to Norfolk, VA, and assigned to the carrier Mindora as a flight surgeon. He served as Chief Medical Officer for Navy Aviation Safety until he left the Navy in 1954 to go into private practice in Norfolk, VA. He practiced medicine in Norfolk for 24 years.

In 1978 Dr. Cooper retired from private practice, married the former Linda Hamby Weaver and moved to Delaware. While in Delaware, the U.S. Air Fore recruited him to active duty status as a flight surgeon. He served as Chief of Primary Care at the Air Force hospital in Dover, DE, then was promoted to the rank of Colonel after reassignment in 1983 to Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, ME. In Maine he held the position of Hospital Commander until returning to Dover, DE in 1987 for his final year of active duty.

Following retirement he stayed active in many organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Kent County SPCA, the Frederica Senior Center, where as an AARP IRS volunteer he helped seniors prepare tax returns. In 2004, he and his wife Linda made Florida their winter home, becoming permanent residents in 2008.

Dr. Cooper loved animals, boating and traveling, skiing, and had a wonderful sense of humor. In Dover, he and his wife formed the Dover Ski Club. He enjoyed teaching people to ski and loved to brag that no one ever got hurt while under his instruction. Later in life he enjoyed cruising, taking several each year with his wife, family, and friends.

In addition to his loving wife, he is survived by three sons, Stephen (Suzanne) Cooper and Robert Cooper of Virginia Beach, VA and Keith (Kathryn) Cooper of Kendall Park, NJ; two daughters, Linda (Tom) Needham of Myrtle Beach, SC and Elizabeth (Marty) Judd of Province, UT; one stepdaughter, Michelle (John) Hunt of Powhatan, VA; 11 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren, and sister Jacqueline Stone of Niantic, CT.

Given Dr. Cooper's love of animals, memorial donations to any animal care organization or nonprofit of your choosing may be made in lieu of flowers.