Larry Wayne Cooper

1937 - 2010

Larry Wayne Cooper, age 72, passed away April 16, 2010. following an extended illness.
He was born on July 17, 1937, in Dinuba, Calif., to Leslie Wayne and Divella Christeen Cooper. After graduating from high school he joined the Air Force and was sent to electronics and radar school at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. As a result of his mastery of the subject matter, he remained at Keesler as a radar/electronics instructor. Following his tour in the Air Force he followed his interest in electronics and received a bachelor's degree in physics from San Diego State University. After working in the communications field for several years, Larry joined Teledyne-Ryan Aeronautical Systems and settled into the business of radar-based guidance and control systems for unmanned aerial target systems. These systems would become a lifelong passion for him as he traveled the world supporting both U.S. military and international customers.
After being in business for a number of years, Larry's entrepreneurial spirit finally won out in 1976 when he settled in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and founded Micro Systems, Inc. Under his guidance and leadership the company became a small business success story. The company became the industry leader in radar and electronic guidance and control systems for virtually the entire aerial targets industry. The company enjoyed the respect of all three military services and international customers with systems deployed to all major test and evaluation ranges.
Larry earned numerous awards throughout his career but he was most proud of the National Defense Industrial Association's Air Targets and UAV Section's prestigious Willis Howard Special Achievement Award. This award, given by his peers, recognized his talents and years of dedication to advancing the technology of unmanned drone command and control systems.
Larry was also a strong believer in education and student learning. After arranging the acquisition of Micro Systems by Herley Industries in 2005, he devoted his time to essentially changing the way students are taught. He thus founded Wireless eSystems to develop electronic products for the classroom, including a real-time teaching and assessment system to rapidly assess students' grasp of the subject matter while relieving teachers of the tedium of grading papers and recording test data. His legacy is Wireless eSystems, located in Navarre, Fla., which now produces and sells thousands of iRespond handheld devices to the education industry and is used in classrooms all over the country. This product won the 2009 Industry Excellence Award.
Larry was preceded in death by his parents, Leslie Wayne and Divella Cristeen Cooper of San Diego. He is survived by his wife, Scharlean Cooper, and her daughters Brittney, Karen and Carol; sisters, June Cooper and LaRoyce Smith; brother, Stephen Cooper and wife Joanne Langston; numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and special cousin, Tennille, as well as many loyal and grateful friends.
Larry was an engineer, entrepreneur, astute business man, and a leader in all that he did. But above all, he was our friend.
A celebration of life will be held at the Elks Lodge on Okaloosa Island on Thursday, April 29, at 4 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to "The L.W. Cooper Educational Foundation" and mailed to 8403 East Bay Blvd., Navarre, FL 32566.