Buni Cooper

1921 - 2022

Buni Cooper
Buni Cooper, singer, actress and educator, died on her birthday, March 9, in Walnut Creek, California after a rich and active life. Chicago native and longtime resident of Berkeley and Oakland, she turned 101 an hour before she passed away.
Like so many Jews of the Russian Empire, Buni's parents came to America as children, fleeing the Pogroms of 1905 with their parents; Shabtai Barach, from Kiev, and Sarah Halperin, from Pyatigorsk in the Russian Caucasus Mountains. Shabtai and Sara met and married in Chicago in 1918, and Baile Buni Barach was their second child born in 1921. Growing up in an Orthodox Jewish home with five siblings, Buni spoke Yiddish at home and English on the street. Her passion for singing began at an early age hearing her mother's lovely singing lullabies and folksongs in Yiddish and Russian, and her father's beautiful mastery of Hebrew cantorial music and liturgy.
Buni soon found her own voice as she studied music, acting and directing at Chicago's Central YMCA College. She went on to win the citywide voice contest leading to singing for war bond rallies at Soldier Field, and a scholarship to study voice, opera and directing at the Julliard School of Music in New York, and performing at Carnegie Hall.
During World War II, she worked for the Transportation Corps at the New York Port of Embarkation, then married her high-school sweetheart, Emanuel Cooper, as he completed Navy service in San Diego. They settled in the East Bay where their children, Adrienne, Michael and Stephen were born and raised. In addition to her role as full-time mother, Buni studied music at UC Berkeley, and drama at Mara Alexander's San Francisco's Actor's Lab. Her passion for theater, music and opera led to her performing with the San Francisco Opera Repertory, the Berkeley Opera Theater, and San Francisco's Opera Ring.
Buni's knowledge of Jewish education allowed her to contribute her talents as director of the religious schools of Temple Beth Jacob and Congregation Beth Abraham in Oakland, and the Jewish pre-kindergarten program at Congregation Chevra Thilim in San Francisco. Her beautiful voice and love of Jewish and Yiddish music led to hosts of concerts over the years at multiple venues throughout Northern California.
Early in 1967, with her two eldest children already in Israel, Buni—the idealist and something of an adventurer—transplanted herself and youngest son to Israel, studied Hebrew and settled in Jerusalem. Ignoring the US Embassy's warnings to leave Israel as war approached, she not only stayed on during the Six-Day War, but remained in Jerusalem for another few years, directing opera at the Rubin Academy and working at Israeli educational TV. After returning to Oakland, Buni remained active well into her 80s, directing and performing with the Yiddish Art Players Theatre Workshop and the Berkeley Jewish Theatre.
Throughout her life, Buni showed by example how to balance between family and community, responsible and responsive to both. She especially relished communicating her Yiddish cultural heritage to her daughter, Adrienne Cooper, who carried the legacy forward with her own beautiful voice, intellect and energy, performing and teaching in the US and internationally. Indeed, Adrienne is widely considered to have been central to the worldwide "Yiddish revival" starting in the 1970s. This, in some measure, is also Buni's legacy.
Buni was preceded in death by her husband, Emanuel; her daughter, Adrienne; and her grandchildren, Maya and Adam. She leaves behind her sons Michael and Stephen; her grandchildren, Sarah Gordon, Rosa Saerys, Matthew, Elana and Daniel Cooper, and her great-granddaughter, Flora Saerys.
The family wishes to express its thanks to Patti Baird and her loving and caring staff at the Tiffany Court Assisted Living Community in Walnut Creek.
Memorial donations may be made to Razom Ukraine Emergency Response.