David Cooper passed away Monday January 11, 2016 of natural causes at age 88. He is survived by his wife of 65 years Jean Alice Cooper and his sons, David Cosby Cooper, Milford Blake Cooper and daughter Isobel Jolie Cooper.
Born March 13th 1927, David started working in the family music business when he was a child during the depression. After service in the army band during WWII, he came back to Cooper Brothers Inc. to work with his brothers.
Cooper Brothers Inc. was started by Jonathan Cooper in 1906 in New Kensington, PA. David was the third generation to work in the family music business, preceded by his father, John E. Cooper. David was an avid music lover and played the saxophone in the dance band, The Five Shades of Blue. He was also an avid sailor and spent many hours at the helm of a racing sailboat competing.
By the 1970’s the industrial economy in Western Pennsylvania began to collapse and David started making plans to move the business to an area with a brighter future. While his brother Dennis Cooper ran the family business, David planned and chose Atlanta, GA as the area to take the family and serve our customers and friends with music choosing to specialize in keyboard instruments.
David’s son Blake joined the business as the fourth generation in 1963 and followed David to Atlanta in 1978. He is the president today of Cooper Music Inc.
David was a lifelong music retailer and gave back to this industry by serving on the National Association of Music Merchants on its board of directors and was a founding member of the Keyboard Insights Group, a leading research group of successful keyboard retailers.
I’m sorry to hear that David has passed, especially that it was in 2016 and I’m just seeing this. This was a great man. In 1989, I sailed with him in the summer regattas out of University Yacht Club, crewing on his J-22, Mighty Mouse. We hardly ever won against the bigger boats, but we had a blast and always capped off the race with dinner. I remember him riding up in that BMW of his, a 633csi that he loved. He was a kind and wonderful man. I’m so sad to see he’s gone, but he lived his 88 years to the fullest. Best wishes to the family – David McCoy
Thanks for this sweet memory! I love hearing stories about my grandpa in his sailing days! Hope you are well. -Laura Cooper