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September 5, 2007

Dr. John Cooper

We are sad to announce the passing of Professor Emeritus John Cooper. “Coop” was a legendary figure among geology students at Cal State Fullerton and a giant in the field of Sedimentary Geology. He died from a massive heart attack while taking his morning walk on Monday, Sept 3. He touched many lives and will be sorely missed.

Dr. Cooper’s research concerned stratigraphic analysis of Neoproterozoic and lower Paleozoic rocks in the southern Great Basin and Eastern Mojave Desert provinces. He was an expert in the use of sequence stratigraphy to investigate paleo sea-level, regional stratigraphic correlations, and continental margin evolution, and had supervised the theses of almost 60 students at Cal State Fullerton. John had served for several decades as a driving force in SEPM, the Society of Sedimentary Geology, serving as Treasurer and Managing Editor for the Pacific Section at the time of his death. In recent years, Dr. Cooper had led efforts to create a curatorial facility for the Orange County Archeology and Paleontology collection.

Dr. Cooper’s family will be holding a private funereal service and do not currently have plans for a public memorial. His wife has asked that interested friends, colleagues, and alumni be directed to make a donation in his memory to the Cooper Scholarship Fund in lieu of a public memorial service. Information on how to make a donation can be found on the Geology Department's web page: http://geology.fullerton.edu./

Posted by SDSU Geological Sciences