Edward Sawyer Cooper

Dr. Edward Sawyer Cooper was born to Dr. Henry Howard Cooper and Ada Sawyer Cooper on December 11, 1926 in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated with a B.A. from Lincoln University in 1946 and an M.D. from Meharry Medical College in 1949. After completing a medical internship and residency at The Philadelphia General Hospital (PGH), he served for 3 years as a captain and first African-American Chief of the Medical Services at the U.S. Clark Air Force Base Hospital in the Philippines. He returned to Philadelphia and was medical program director at the former Mercy-Douglass Hospital and president of the PGH medical staff. In 1958, after a National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellowship in cardiology, he joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and became co-founder of the NIH-funded
PGH Stroke Research Center.

To have more impact on public health, he served as the chair of the newly formed Stroke Council of the American Heart Association (AHA), chair of the writing committee for the influential AHA statement "Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in African-American and Other Racial Minorities", and then as a member of the AHA Board of Directors. He relentlessly educated physicians and the public about the high prevalence of stroke in blacks and other understudied populations. He was among the first to emphasize the similarity in the risk factors for stroke and heart disease, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol, and the need for better control of these risk factors. He lectured across the country and abroad, published widely in medical journals and served on their editorial boards., and co-authored a book, "Stroke in Blacks". He received the highest national AHA award, the Gold Heart Award, and an award was established in his name, given annually at the Philadelphia AHA Heart Ball. In 1993, he became the first African-American President of the AHA, and worked hard to increase public and professional support for prevention and optimal treatment of both stroke and heart disease.

In 1972, he became the first African-American tenured professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, retiring in 1996. Until his retirement, he maintained a teaching clinical practice at The Edward S. Cooper Clinic at Penn in the fields of internal medicine and stroke prevention. A Penn professorship in medicine carries his name and his portrait hangs at the Penn medical center. Other leadership positions included the NIH, Board of Trustees of Rockefeller University, American College of Physicians, National Medical Association (Chairman of the Talent Recruitment Council), Association of Black Cardiologists, American Foundation for African Development, the American Foundation for Negro Affairs, and boards of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Independence Blue Cross. Other awards include honorary degrees from Meharry Medical College and the University of South Carolina, where he gave a graduation speech to 14,000 undergraduates at the age of 96. He was sought after as a kind and wise mentor by all, from elementary school students to faculty members, and opened up opportunities for everyone who deserved it.

His scarce leisure time was spent mostly with family and friends, including those in the Alpha Boule, the Omega Psi Phi fraternity and the Ashantis. He especially enjoyed relaxing at his family's beach house in Atlantic Beach, South Carolina, where he fell in love with his wife of 54
years, the late Dr. Jean Wilder Cooper. Other ways to relax were playing golf, listening to opera, and (on occasion) winning at the casino (smile).

He is survived by 3 living children: Lisa Cooper Hudgins, M.D. (James) of New York City, Jan Ada Cooper, M.D. (Gregory DeGruy) of New
Orleans, and Charles Wilder Cooper, Ph.D. of Los Angeles. His other son, Edward Sawyer Cooper, Jr., died in 1985. He is also survived by 4 grandchildren, 3 of whom are physicians, and 7 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the E. Sawyer Cooper, Jr. Endowed Scholarship Fund https://giving.apps.upenn.edu/fund?program=MED&fund=041514

If mailing a donation, please make checks out to the "Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania" and send to Penn Medicine, Development and Alumni Relations, 3535 Market Street, Suite 750, Philadelphia, PA 19104

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