The Passing of Professor Emeritus Alan Cooper

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Dr. Alan Cooper, professor emeritus of York College.

A founding professor, Dr. Cooper served as chair of the English department for nearly 20 years. He taught at York from its opening in 1967 to 2014 when ended his teaching career, having officially retired in 2004.

From the moment of York’s founding, when most students were white, to when they were mostly Black to now when York has a widely diverse student body, he cared about his students and supported and celebrated their achievements and encouraged their dreams. He was known as a tough grader, but a fair one who only expected his students to give their best effort, and they were the better for it.

Dr. Cooper was not only a serious academic deeply focused on subject matter, whether it was grammar, Shakespeare, the Romantics, the Victorians to more contemporary literary figures. But he was joyful by nature and a favorite part of his classes was always the asides. And seeing the “the human side” of him was always a pleasure for his students. He was a great fan of the TV series “Cheers” and enjoyed quoting the “Cliff” character, which in turn, made students see that he was just like everyone else, someone who enjoyed an engaging TV show.

When a fireplace fire burned his face and singed his famously prominent eyebrows, and his hands, he still came to class with his healing face and stubbly brows out of respect for the class. When a student in his Shakespeare class became seriously ill and could no longer attend the classes or afford a key textbook, Dr. Cooper took action.

He not only bought the book for the student, but after teaching night classes, and driving home to New Rochelle, he would call the student and go over the lesson with him. When the student died, the book was buried with him as he (the student) had wished. There are numerous legendary anecdotes about Dr. Cooper’s generosity of spirit that one could repeat here, but this is a stand out.

As a parent, Alan Cooper also related to at least one poem from a literary giant. When he lost an adult son in the early 1990s, he said to a former mentee some years later, “I feel like the Wordsworth poem, “We Are Seven.” The child narrator of the poem had lost siblings, but she persists in still counting them in the total number of children in her family. And so was he. Dr. Cooper still counted his late son as amongst the total number of his children as though he were still alive. It was a poignant moment between professor and mentee that left a lasting memory.

Most of York’s founding and early subsequent hires, have now retired, except for one, History Professor Robert Parmet, who literally wrote the book on York (“Town and Gown: The Fight for Social Justice, Urban Rebirth, and Higher Education”) was a close colleague and summed up his friend’s value.

“Alan was a founder of York, who anchored the College's English department for [nearly two] decades, either as chair or scholar and instructor, Dr. Robert Parmet recalled. “As a stalwart of York from its earliest days, Alan was in the forefront of the dramatic march on May 2, 1968 of York faculty, students and administrators across the Brooklyn Bridge to New York City's City Hall to demand a campus for the school.

Professor Parmet added, “It was Alan, along with Professor Frank Pomilla who left the demonstration and entered City Hall to present York's cause. At the college he was a superb instructor, noted as a Shakespearean scholar and grammarian and beloved by many students. In addition, Alan authored a well-received biography of novelist Philip Roth. In brief, he was a leader whose presence provided both strength and character to York College.”

Lori Bassin, daughter of York’s second and longest serving president, Milton Basin, said: “I simply remember him (Cooper) as a brilliant professor, department chair and committed partner in the struggle to cement York’s place within CUNY and the Jamaica community. He, along with an equally committed core group of York professors from the early days, believed wholeheartedly in the mission of the college and were responsible for creating a uniquely nurturing and supportive environment in which York’s students could tap into their passions and potential.”

Ms. Bassin’s continues, “I remember his collaboration with Professor Joan Baum on the Grammar Hotline, which became a point of pride for the college and other professors in the English department seemed to genuinely enjoy each other. They always struck me as a very idealistic, enlightened bunch, passionate about the written word and the art of teaching. How lucky for York to have had Alan as an integral contributor to the foundation and the values that have helped make the college the extraordinary place that it is to this day.”

York College extends sincere condolences to the Cooper family and finds it only fitting that this tribute/announcement end with a quote from one of Dr. Cooper’s favorite Shakespearean plays, “Hamlet,” as spoken by Horatio at the climax of the play: “Good night sweet prince and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

For more see The New York Times obit on Alan Cooper.