Sandra (Allison) Cooper, "Sandy," passed away peacefully at home on December 4, 2025, in Fallbrook, California. Born in Springfield, Illinois, she was the eldest child of the late Joseph Allison and the late Dorothy Anita Allison (née Brockschmidt). She is survived by her brother, Lawrence Allison, of Warsaw, KY, as well as by her three children and four grandchildren.
A graduate of Knox College (1964), Sandy taught English in Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer (1964-1965) and matriculated at Northwestern Law, where she met her husband, Bert, a fellow Peace Corps alum and law student. Like many women of her generation, she paused her graduate education for marriage and childrearing, but after a short turn teaching in the Chicago Public Schools and a move to Pasadena, CA, she completed her JD at Southwestern Law School (1980). She served as associate dean at Southwestern before moving to Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, where she became a partner specializing in employment law. Sandy especially enjoyed her work representing colleges and universities and eventually moved to the Office of the General Counsel at Caltech, where she delighted in the unusual and varied projects that crossed her desk at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including the Cassini and Pathfinder missions, for which she received special recognition. She spent the final years of her career as general counsel for Occidental College, where she also taught the occasional constitutional law class and relished helping students understand how legal doctrines relate to real-world events in America.
From the late 1990s through the early 2000s, Sandy divided her time between Southern California and a farm in Templeton on California's Central Coast, where she and Bert looked after a stable of horses and many lucky dogs. She was devoted to the Tennessee Walking Horse and provided sanctuary to many of them in her pastures as she advocated for stricter federal laws to prevent the inhumane practice of soring. In 2008, Sandy and Bert relocated to Fallbrook, outside of San Diego, where Sandy resided until her death. Guided by her commitment to social justice and the law, Sandy continued throughout her retirement to provide English language instruction and legal assistance to immigrant families in the community.
Sandy's intelligence, resolve, sympathy for others, and robust sense of humor live on in her children and grandchildren. She is survived by her son, Bert, and daughter-in-law, Lani, of Cranston, R.I., and their children Josie and Ian Cooper; her daughter, Allison, and son-in-law, Aaron Kitch, of Brunswick, ME, and their children Elsa and Beckett Kitch; and her son, Joe, of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA.
A private memorial will be held at Knox College in Galesburg, IL in the spring. Friends wishing to honor Sandy's memory are invited to contribute in her name to Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society) (https://www.humaneworld.org) or to call their US Representative or Senator and politely ask them to co-sponsor or otherwise support the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act to strengthen the Horse Protection Act by ending the cruel soring of Tennessee Walking Horses.
A graduate of Knox College (1964), Sandy taught English in Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer (1964-1965) and matriculated at Northwestern Law, where she met her husband, Bert, a fellow Peace Corps alum and law student. Like many women of her generation, she paused her graduate education for marriage and childrearing, but after a short turn teaching in the Chicago Public Schools and a move to Pasadena, CA, she completed her JD at Southwestern Law School (1980). She served as associate dean at Southwestern before moving to Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, where she became a partner specializing in employment law. Sandy especially enjoyed her work representing colleges and universities and eventually moved to the Office of the General Counsel at Caltech, where she delighted in the unusual and varied projects that crossed her desk at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including the Cassini and Pathfinder missions, for which she received special recognition. She spent the final years of her career as general counsel for Occidental College, where she also taught the occasional constitutional law class and relished helping students understand how legal doctrines relate to real-world events in America.
From the late 1990s through the early 2000s, Sandy divided her time between Southern California and a farm in Templeton on California's Central Coast, where she and Bert looked after a stable of horses and many lucky dogs. She was devoted to the Tennessee Walking Horse and provided sanctuary to many of them in her pastures as she advocated for stricter federal laws to prevent the inhumane practice of soring. In 2008, Sandy and Bert relocated to Fallbrook, outside of San Diego, where Sandy resided until her death. Guided by her commitment to social justice and the law, Sandy continued throughout her retirement to provide English language instruction and legal assistance to immigrant families in the community.
Sandy's intelligence, resolve, sympathy for others, and robust sense of humor live on in her children and grandchildren. She is survived by her son, Bert, and daughter-in-law, Lani, of Cranston, R.I., and their children Josie and Ian Cooper; her daughter, Allison, and son-in-law, Aaron Kitch, of Brunswick, ME, and their children Elsa and Beckett Kitch; and her son, Joe, of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA.
A private memorial will be held at Knox College in Galesburg, IL in the spring. Friends wishing to honor Sandy's memory are invited to contribute in her name to Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society) (https://www.humaneworld.org) or to call their US Representative or Senator and politely ask them to co-sponsor or otherwise support the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act to strengthen the Horse Protection Act by ending the cruel soring of Tennessee Walking Horses.
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