Dr. William Cooper Jr.

1932 - 2022

Dr. William Cooper Jr.
August 16, 1932 - March 4, 2022
Ann Arbor, Michigan - Dr. William Allen Cooper, Jr. of Ann Arbor, MI, age 89, died peacefully in his sleep with his children by his side at Glacier Hills Senior Living Community on March 4, 2022, after a brief illness and just eight weeks after his wife of 64 years, Auguste Cooper, also passed. His family is comforted by the thought that they are together again.
William was born on August 16, 1932, in Detroit, MI, the son of William Allen Cooper, Sr. and Ida Louise Cooper (Ford). William, who went by the nickname Bill, grew up in Detroit, MI. He went to Cooley Senior High School, graduating in 1950. He went to Adrian College in Adrian, MI, for two years, and then decided to enlist in the US Army, where he was subsequently stationed at the Ledward Barracks in Schweinfurt, Germany. It was there he met his wife, Auguste Schneider (Gusti). They were engaged in October 1956 before Bill returned to the US; Gusti joined him in Detroit in the spring of 1957. They were married in Detroit on October 5, 1957, and recently celebrated their 64th anniversary.
After returning to civilian life and starting his married life with Gusti, Bill completed his BS at Wayne State University in 1958. After graduating, he moved with his young family to the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK, where he pursued a PhD in Audiology and graduated in 1964. He spent his early career as the Chief of Audiology, which was a new department he helped launch, at the Veterans Administration in Oklahoma City, OK. During that time the family, which now included three children, Ingrid, Robert, and James, lived in Oklahoma City and later Edmond, OK. In 1971, Bill accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Audiology department at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. Bill taught classes and researched at Purdue for 10 years before accepting his final positon at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC.
Bill Cooper served as the Chair of the Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders (a rotating position) from 1981 to 1983 and 1996 to 1998, during which time he presided over the development of the department's Cochlear Implant Program. In between his terms as Chair, he served as the department's Graduate Director (1989 to 1996). Bill was a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, an Honors recipient of the South Carolina Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and former Chair of South Carolina's licensure board in speech pathology and audiology. A prolific scholar and researcher, he published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, presented over 100 papers at scientific meetings, and generated well over one million dollars in extramural research funding.
Bill and Gusti both retired in December of 1998 and moved to their home on Edisto Island where they stayed until 2005 before moving to Charleston, SC. They lived in South Carolina for 31 years until 2012 when they returned to Michigan to reside near their daughter in Glacier Hills Senior Living Community in Ann Arbor, MI. Bill enjoyed his final years at Glacier Hills as Ann Arbor became the meeting place for his children and grandchildren. He was an active resident at Glacier Hills, making many new friends and enjoying the music programs and other activities. He even served on the Glacier Hills Resident's Committee as Secretary and President for a time.
Bill had many interests and hobbies. He took the family on numerous camping trips around the county over the years and became an avid sailor while living in Indiana. He shared his love of sailing with Gusti and his two sons, Bob and Jim. He was a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan, attending his first game with his parents as an infant, and attended games whenever he could. In the last 10 years, his grandchildren accompanied him to many Tigers games. He and Gusti enjoyed traveling internationally. In 1978, they lived in Southampton, England for six months on sabbatical from Purdue where he worked at the University of Southampton. Over the years, they returned to Germany frequently to visit Gusti's family and later their son, Jim, who resides in Germany. They also traveled to many other interesting places around Europe and Central and South America.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents William and Louise Cooper and his siblings, Donald and Margaret Rossignol (Cooper). He is survived by his daughter Ingrid Louise Justice (Christopher), grandchildren Jacob (Talya), Samuel, and Emma Justice, son Robert William Cooper, and son James Allen Cooper (fiancée Belinda Williams), grandsons Phillip and Henning Cooper and their mother Bettina. He is also survived by his brother, James Ford Cooper (Magda) and many nieces and nephews as well as grandnieces and nephews and one great grandniece.
A celebration of Bill's life will take place at 11:00 am on Friday, March 11, 2022, at Nie Funeral Home, 2400 Carpenter Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48108. Family and friends visitation will begin at 10:00 am. There will be a private family burial at Roseland Cemetery in Royal Oak, MI. The family requests that guests attending any services wear a mask.
Donations can be made in his memory to the Glacier Hills Foundation or to Arbor Hospice.