Roy Cooper worked in a world filled with egos, but his former colleagues say he was never one to seek the spotlight.
Though Cooper loved recruiting businesses to metro Atlanta, he was more than happy to let elected leaders and business executives take the credit for it. But without Cooper, Atlanta’s airport isn’t the world’s busiest, and major employers like UPS and the American Cancer Society likely are located elsewhere.
Cooper steered the effort for what was then Atlanta Municipal Airport to win its first international route to Mexico City in 1971. He led the effort to land Atlanta’s first route to Europe in an age when most travelers had to fly from hubs on the east and west coasts to leave the country.
Cooper, a former vice president of economic development for the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce died Monday from complications that followed a recent fall. He was 91.
“I think I said this when Roy retired that we ought to have an unsung heroes’ hall of fame in Georgia, because if we did, Roy would be the first person inducted,” said George Berry, who ran Atlanta’s airport and also led the state’s economic development agency.
Cooper wrote copious briefs that showed Atlanta could provide the demand necessary to support international travel, providing the federal government with reams of data.
When what was then known as Atlanta Municipal Airport won its Mexico City route in 1971, Berry said, “we changed the name within a week to Atlanta International Airport.”
“Roy was almost single-handedly responsible for international flights at the airport,” Berry said. “All of us who were interested in bringing Atlanta and Georgia into the economic mainstream of this country owe a debt of gratitude to Roy Cooper.”
Cooper was born in Columbus in 1927 and largely raised in Birmingham. After a stint in the Army during the Korean War, he returned to school at Georgia Tech and earned a bachelors degree in industrial engineering and a masters in management.
He worked for a time at Georgia Tech and later took a job with the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce and later with what was then known as the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. He served the Atlanta chamber for more than three decades before retiring in 1997.
Susan Neugent worked at the Atlanta chamber with Cooper for more than a decade. She worked in public policy and community development, while he steered the chamber’s economic development strategy.
But Neugent said Cooper say community development, policy and infrastructure as interconnected with recruiting business. He helped develop the chamber’s research arm to provide prospects with facts about Atlanta rather than bluster.
“He was unfailingly honest and forthright,” she said. “Some might have felt he was too direct, but he always got his point across. He was always the best-informed person in any discussion, but he never looked to take the spotlight or the credit.”
Nancy Nolan, who worked on Cooper’s staff at the chamber, said he nurtured the careers of all his staff, but he was particularly supportive of women in an era when such support was not as common from a male supervisor.
“He never held us back and it was a joy to him to see us flourish,” she said.
Alan Cooper, one of Cooper’s two sons, said his family can look to metro Atlanta’s growth as part of his father’s defining legacy. He said his father balanced a demanding job with being a doting father.
When Alan was about 9 or 10, he said his father took the family on a trip, renting a house on Pauley’s Island, S.C. It continued as a tradition, with the family renting the same home for nearly 45 years.
“Children and grandchildren, his great grandchildren,” Cooper said. “It was a really special, special time.”
Roy Cooper was preceded in death by his wife, the former Virginia Hudgens Cooper. He is survived by a daughter, Patricia Apfelbaum; sons David and Alan Cooper and their families; six grandchildren, nine great grandchildren; a brother, Ed Cooper and family; and longtime friend Virginia Cathcart.
Services for Cooper will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at A.S. Turner & Sons, at 2773 N. Decatur Road in Decatur. The family will receive visitors Saturday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the funeral home. The family requests donations be made in lieu of flowers to Cooper’s church, Peace Lutheran on Columbia Drive, or to a favored charity.
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