Eugene Bruce Cooper

In Memoriam - Gene Cooper

Dr. Eugene Bruce Cooper, 81, of Weston, FL, passed away on Saturday, November 21, [ed. 2015]. Dr. Cooper is survived by his beloved wife of 50 years, Crystal, his devoted sons Philip (Karen) and Ivan (Amy), and his adoring grandchildren Dylan, Grant, Jake, and Maddie. Born in Utica, NY, Dr. Cooper was a world-renowned expert on stuttering, earning his undergraduate degree at SUNY Geneseo and receiving his doctorate from Penn State University. Among numerous professional achievements and honors, Dr. Cooper developed the first commercially available assessment and treatment program for individuals who stutter, chaired the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Alabama for 30 years, and was awarded the Honors of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association for his revolutionary contributions to the field of stuttering treatment. Services will be held on November 24 at 2:30 at Temple Dor Dorim, 2360 Glades Circle in Weston, and interment will be at Menorah Gardens & Funeral Chapels in Southwest Ranches, FL. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to JAFCO (Jewish Adoption and Family Care Options, www.jafco.org), or the Cleveland Clinic (giving.clevelandclinic.org). - from South Florida Sun-Sentinal (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sunsentinel/obituary.aspx?pid=176614208#sthash.3ay2WK94.dpuf)


  • An Extensive biography of Eugene Cooper shared by Crystal Cooper


    HONORS AND AWARDS

  • Eugene B. Cooper - ASHA Fellow

  • Eugene Cooper 1991 NSSLHA Honors

  • Eugene B. Cooper 1999 Honors of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association.

    Article from Special Interest Division 4 Fluency and Fluency Disorders Volume 9, Number 3 September 1999, p. 4

  • Eugene B. Cooper 2001 recipient of the Malcolm Fraser Award for Excellence in Stuttering - Dr. Gene B. Cooper was honored in 2001 for decades of profound influence in the field of fluency disorders and his work within ASHA.

    The rest of the article is available in the Fall 2001 Stuttering Foundation Newsletter

  • Eugene B. Cooper served the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa from 1966-1996. The Cooper Lecture Series in Communication Disorders was established in honor or Dr. Cooper and his wife Crystal S. Cooper.

  • Eugene Cooper, Ph.D. - National Stuttering Association "Hall of Fame Award" - 2002


    PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTiONS

  • Eugene Cooper's Professional Resume an extensive, 28 page PDF, includes publication references, presentations and more shared by Crystal Cooper

  • Other professional contributions


    TRIBUTES

    If anyone would like to add more, contact Judy Kuster

  • Judy Kuster: Gene Cooper honored me in many ways (writing letters of recommendation, inviting me to his open house celebration at ASHA in 1999, writing papers for the ISAD online conferences, etc.), and he and his wife Crystal became good friends after they retired. For many years, my husband Tom and I enjoyed and annual dinner and a visit with Gene and Crystal in Weston, Florida, where they lived and we vacationed. Gene's health grew more problematic over the years, but his spirit and sense of humor remained remarkable.

  • Todd Bourg: Thoughts and prayers to Crystal and family. God bless all of you. Gene and I go back 35 years to the University of Alabama. He was my dear friend and mentor and I will truly miss him. Gene helped me to understand that my 'stuttering' was all about the "feeling of control" and not the 'fluency'. We shared many years of discussing this concept and now am a firm believer that in my case, he was correct. Thank you for the education, my friend. I love you. Todd Bourg

  • Frederick P. Murray, Ph.D, ASHA Fellow: Gene was an extraordinary man who had the rare quality of appreciating what a severe stutterer goes through. The Windows of our minds have been rendered clearer by his endeavors.

  • Florence Myers, PhD: I am so saddened to hear of the passing of Gene. Wow....it would seem that giants such as he would never succumb to passing. Well, they don't, really, as their remarkable contributions continue to thrive. I feel in many ways he and Crystal were ahead of their time in thinking and clinical approaches to stuttering--yet will remain classical and timeless.

  • David Daly, PhD,: Whatever I accomplished was directly attributed to his faith in me. Gene helped me believe in myself when my stuttering held me down. He was a great therapist and friend.

  • Walter Manning, PhD: I believe that one of the more fortunate events in our lives is when our paths intersect with good people at just the right time. That is what happened when I met Eugene Cooper. A series of decisions and events brought Gene and me together when, at age 22, I finally acknowledged and faced the many restrictions I was placing on myself because of my stuttering. Because of Gene and the clinicians in the program at Penn State University, I participated in a successful therapeutic experience, continued with my education and entered the field. During that time Gene evolved from being my clinician and became my mentor, my colleague, and my friend.

    Although Gene was not a person who stuttered he fully understood the experience of stuttering as much or more than anyone I have known. Many of the things he considered to be crucial such as the therapeutic alliance and the idea of loss of control as a distinguishing aspect of stuttering later became recognized as essential aspects of the therapeutic experience. The issues he researched and the topics he addressed in his writing and presentations reflected his understanding, empathy, and passion for helping children and adults who stuttered.

    I often recall a moment during one of our therapy sessions when, for a moment, we both were silent. After the short pause Gene commented "I knew we were friends when we could share the silence." Over the years our lives would intersect at committee meetings, conventions, weddings, and dinners. Every moment that I remember with Gene and his wife Crystal was enjoyable and always brings a smile. Gene was one of two people in my life whose wives and/or children told me that they regarded me as a son. I will always be thankful that I was able to know and spend many good times with him.

  • Fred Minifie: Most of my interactions with Gene were in relation to the Council of Graduate Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (now the Council of Academic Programs in Communications Sciences and Disorders) during the 1980s. Gene was one of the early and vigorous participants the Council, believing in the importance of having an independent venue for the exchange of information crucial to Graduate Education in our field. For the first 10 years of that organization we met at the Henry VIII motel near the airport in St. Louis. The relative isolation of that venue provided lots of time to to engage in informal discussions on issues of importance to Graduate Program Directors. Gene thoroughly enjoyed the good humor and repartee among the Educational Program Directors who attended those meetings. If memory serves, Gene served as Chair of the Department at the University of Alabama for something like 25 years before he moved to Nova University in Florida. While his professional interest and expertise was in the treatment of stuttering, most of our interactions dealt with the issue of having a venue for graduate education directors to meet independent of ASHA in order to improve graduate education in our field without being dependent upon ASHA's influence. We shall miss his presence in the profession.


    Added January 26, 2016