Stanley Glen Coop

COOP-Stanley Glen Coop, business executive and entrepreneur in the grocery industry for fifty years had died. He was s eventy-seven years old. Stan battled cancer since his diagnosis in 1998. He continued working in the food brokerage firm he founded, through last year, at which time he transferred the responsibility to his son, Bruce Coop. Stan was well known in the grocery industry as a fair and ethical businessman. The son of Midwestern farmers, he began his career at SuperValu in Iowa as a grocery buyer, moved has family to South Pasadena in the sixties and worked his way to Vice President of Ralphs Grocery Company. In 2001, Stan founded his own wholesale export business and developed lucrative grocery relationships with the Pacific Rim. Stan was born in Fairfield, Iowa, March 30, 1930, married his wife, Dena, in 1950 and had six children. Stan and Dena raised their children with values of generosity, hard work and commitment which they undoubtedly learned from their parents and growing up in the Depression. These principles were apparent in the way in which Dena cared for him in his difficult last year of life. Stan wrot e numerous letters to friends and family chronicling his battle with cancer, but the journey was best summed up by himself when he wrote, "Complaining has, and always will be, a non-productive use of energy." Stan died at home with Dena, his son Bruce and granddaughter Melisa at his side on the evening of September 18, 2007. He is survived by Dena, their six children, nineteen grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Memorial services are to be held at Holy Family Church in South Pasadena on October 9, 2 007 at 1:30 PM.