Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. | |
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Born | (1933-11-24)November 24, 1933 |
Died | January 31, 2016(2016-01-31) (aged 82) |
Education | Buckley School, Phillips Academy Andover |
Alma mater | Yale University |
Occupation(s) | Writer, author, environmentalist |
Years active | 1956–1993 |
Employer | The New Yorker |
Spouse |
Henry Spotswood Fenimore Cooper (November 24, 1933 – January 31, 2016) was a writer and local environmentalist. He was a longtime contributor toThe New Yorker, predominantly coveringNASA's space program. Cooper also wrote eight books about space exploration throughout his lifetime.[1] He was a noted chronicler of events at theCentury Association, a private club in New York City.[2]
Cooper was born on November 24, 1933, inNew York City.[3] His parents were Henry Sage Fenimore Cooper, a surgeon atMary Imogene Bassett Hospital,[4] and Katherine Lemoine Guy.[2] He was the great-great-grandson of writerJames Fenimore Cooper and sixth generation descendant ofWilliam Cooper, founder ofCooperstown, New York. He had a brother, James Fenimore Cooper IV, and two sisters, Susan and Katherine. James died in 2014 and his sisters died within the year prior to that.[5]
Cooper spent summers throughout his childhood and later life in Cooperstown, and grew up swimming in Otsego Lake and in the surrounding forest and fields.[3] Cooper attributed his interest in science writing to elementary school, where he read a copy ofFrom the Earth to the Moon, an 1865 novel byJules Verne.[6]
From ages 14 to 22, Cooper worked on his family's farm in the town.[4] Henry S. F. Cooper attended theBuckley School in New York City andPhillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts. He subsequently attendedYale University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in English in 1956.[2] During his stay at Yale, Cooper was a frequent writer for theYale Daily News, and wrote the column "Sound and Fury".[4] At Yale in 1955, Cooper andDavid P. Calleo anonymously wroteInside Eli, or alternativelyHow to get on at Yale, which had sketches of Yale organizations, activities, and sports; it is currently held by theBeinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.[7] The book or pamphlet was written comically, described as resembling the works ofEvelyn Waugh.[8]
After graduation, in the summer of 1956, Cooper wrote for theNew York Herald Tribune on the persuasion of his mother: Cooper had wished to go to the Middle East, and his mother wanted him to find a job, so Cooper persuaded theHerald Tribune to let him write about his travels in the paper.[4]
Cooper had hoped to work forThe New Yorker since he was 16. He submitted two articles after graduating from college and had no immediate response. Around this time, in 1956, Cooper was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he worked as a clerk-typist within the United States before being discharged in 1958.[4][9]
He then attended theColumbia University Graduate School of Journalism for several months, before hearing fromThe New Yorker's editorWilliam Shawn. Shawn was impressed with the two articles and hired Cooper,[2] who ended up working for the company for 35 years, from 1958 to 1993.[3] Cooper also wrote for other publications, includingThe New York Times Book Review.[2] His primary focus atThe New Yorker was on the U.S. space program, starting during its period of high publicity in the 1960s. Many of the articles formed the basis of books he later authored.[3]
In 1972, Cooper served as a judge for theNational Book Awards. He earned aGuggenheim Fellowship in 1975 and a science writing award from theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science in 1977.[9]
In 1981, Cooper founded the environmental group Otsego 2000, which campaigned against industrial wind turbines, fracking, and a planned motorboat launching ramp onOtsego Lake in Cooperstown.[2] Originally named "Friends of P.R.O.T.E.C.T.", the organization changed its name to Otsego 2000 in 1998. Cooper was the president of the organization for years, and subsequently became its chairman. Under Cooper, the organization had worked to promote preservation of theGlimmerglass Historic District, the opening of Cooperstown Farmers' Market, and the formation of the Glimmerglass Coalition.[3]
Cooper wrote eight books between 1969 and 1993, with Robert Lescher as hisliterary agent.[9] Lescher had been an agent to authors such asRobert Frost andGeorgia O'Keeffe.[10]
Cooper retired from authorship and writing atThe New Yorker in 1993.[6]
From 2006 to about 2016, Cooper editedThe Century Bulletin, a chronicle of events at theCentury Association, a private club in New York City.[2]
Cooper died of lung cancer at his home near Cooperstown on January 31, 2016.[2][5] In May 2016, Otsego 2000 held a month-long exhibition in memory of Cooper, featuring landscapes that could have been lost without Cooper's environmental efforts.[11]
Henry S. F. Cooper married Mary Luke Langben on October 13, 1966,[9] a relationship that ended in divorce. He had three daughters, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Molly Cooper, and three grandchildren.[2] Cooper lived at 1165 Fifth Avenue, on theUpper East Side of Manhattan.[9] Later in life, Cooper spent more time in Cooperstown,[6] and purchased a house nearby, inMiddlefield's Red Creek section.[4]
Cooper was a member of theYale Club, the Century Association (where he was twice trustee),[2] and theNew York Society Library.[9] In Cooperstown, he was a board member of theGlimmerglass Opera, the Otsego Land Trust, and a founder of the Smithy Pioneer Gallery.[3][12] Cooper was a trustee of the Wrexham Foundation, part of Yale'sManuscript Society. He joined the board in 1957, and was twice its chairman. He was a trustee of theYale University Art Gallery beginning in 1970, and of the Yale Library Associates beginning in 1976. Cooper was also a member of theAuthors Guild, theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science, theMunicipal Art Society, theGrolier Club, and the Coffee House Club.[9]
The New York Society Library considered Cooper theéminence grise of its organization, as he served on its board from 1971 to 2015, and as chair from 1985 to 1992.[13][14] Cooper also co-wrote and edited a history of the society,The New York Society Library: 250 Years.[1]
For the Yale Club, he wrote a comprehensive history of its library,History of the Yale Club Library. Cooper stood as a longtime member of the Yale Club Library Committee.[15]
During the production of the 2004Wes Anderson filmThe Life Aquatic, Cooper was in Rome visiting his daughter Molly, then an assistant to producerBarry Mendel. One of the film's actors unexpectedly had a stroke, and with a lack of replacements, Cooper auditioned and got the part in the film.[4]