Andrew Wells Cooper, August 21,1927-January 28, 2002

"This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man ."
- William Shakespeare -

Andrew Wells Cooper
August 21, 1927- January 28 , 2002

Processional The Diaspora Chamber Music Trio
Welcome Reverend Dr. Paul Smith
Musical Selection "Oh Freedom"
Soloist- Gina Breedlove
Remembrances Danny Alterman
Les Payne Randy Daniels William Thompson
Gil Noble Jake Oliver Reverend Alfred Sharpton
Musical Selection "Amazing Grace"
UO Mor Pipes
Proclamation Marty Markowitz
In Memory Brooklyn Links, Inc.
Reflections The Family
Benediction
Recessional The Diaspora Chamber Music Trio
The family wishes to extend their appreciation for the many expressions of love, concern, and kindness shown to them during their time of sorrow. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to the Brooklyn Links "Salute to Youth Project, Inc."for the Andrew Wells Cooper Memorial Scholarship Fund, 328 Flatbush Avenue, Suite 72, Brooklyn, NY 11238.

Andrew Wells Cooper

Andrew Wells Cooper was born on August 21st, 1927 to Palmer Alexander Cooper and Irma Cathlee Robinson Cooper in Brooklyn, New York.
As a tireless crusader for the equality of African American people, Andrew was always on the front line. He was a delegate to the 1964 National Democratic Convention . Andrew helped change the rules to reaffirm African-American inclusion. He also left a permanent imprint on New York City's political landscape when he challenged-the racist policy of redlining. Andrew initiated the landmark lawsuit Cooper vs. Power, which led to the creation of the 12th Congressional District in Brooklyn and the election of Shirley Chisolm as America's first Black female Congressperson.
In 1977, he founded the Trans-Urban News Service, which trained Black, Hispanic, and female journalists who were under-represented in the media. In 1984, Andrew founded The City Sun , a legendary, hard-hitting, investigative publication whose motto was "Speaking Truth to Power."
The lifelong Brooklynite was formerly a trustee of the Brooklyn-Caledonian hospital , the New York Urban League, the New York chapter of the NAACP, as well as One Hundred Black Men .
In addition , Andrew served as Regional ViceChairperson of the National Newspapers Publishers Association, Chairman of the National Newspapers Association's Urban League Liaison Committee, and board member of the Community Service Society of Brooklyn.
Andrew Cooper is survived by his wife of 52 years, Jocelyn Elaine Clopton Cooper, two daughters Andrea Andrews and Jocelyn A. Cooper, a grandson Damani, great-grandson Ndevu, brothers Milton and Robert Cooper, and numerous nieces and nephews.

NEWSDAY, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2002


A'51

Andrew Cooper, Published City Sun

By Ron Ho\vell

STAFF WRITER

Andrew Cooper, publisher of the City Sun, a black weekly newspaper that stirred up controversy during the 1980s and '90s, died Monday, his wife said.
"He gave his whole life to jour-
nalism and he lived out the motto of the Sun, 'Speaking Truth to Power,'" his wife, Jocelyn C. Cooper, said of her husband, known to friends as Andy.

."From the moment I met him 57 years ago he was so clear about the kind of world he wanted to live in, one that did not oppress people, and he was _particularly concerned about the oppression of black people," Jocelyn Cooper said.
Andrew Cooper was 74 and died

a. ftteHr suff"ter1ing ap strkokSel at MBethodkIs ospi a In ar ope, roo lyn, near his home.

Andrew

Cooper

at

the

City

Sun's

Brooklyn

office

in

Newsday
1994.

File

Photo

As hands-on publisher of the Sun, from 1984 to its demise in 1996, Cooper ran headlines, news articles and editorials that infuriated thousands of New Yorkers, just as it drew tens of thousands of loyal black readers.

gree from Adelphi University. He lived in Brooklyn all his life.
"He said if someone gave him a house in Manhattan, he wouldn't live in it. That's how much

The Sun stood behind the Rev. Al Sharpton and he loved Brooklyn," his wife said.

activist lawyers C. Vemon Mason and Alton Mad- In the 1960s Cooper filed a civil rights lawsuit

dox when they maintained a black teenager, Tawa- that led to the creation of a congressional district

na Brawley, was sexually assaulted by a group of where Shirley Chisholm in 1968 became the first

whites in upstate Wappingers Falls in 1987.

black female member of the House of Representa-

Numerous investigations concluded that the tives.

charges were false. But dozens of incidents of ra- In addition to his wife, Cooper is survived by

cial discrimination and abuse became cause cele- two daughters, Andrea Andrews and Jocelyn A.

bres and rallying cries in Cooper's City Sun, in- C0oper; a grandson, Damani Andrews, and a

cluding the 1986 killing of black Brooklyn resi- grea.t-grandson, Lev Andrews.

dent Michael Griffith by a crowd of whites in A memorial service will be held at the First

Howard Beach.

Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn in. Brooklyn

Cooper was bom in Brooklyn and attended Heights, but the date had not been set as of yes-

Boys High School. He earned his bachelor's de- terday.

0
. f - . l

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

January 31-February 6, 2002

Sun sets on Brook yn's city scribe

By VINETIE K. PRYCE Special to the Amnews
Brooklyn is not as bright today. Neither is the most populous borough as enquiring as when Andrew Wells Cooper probed the politics of the day. Known to many as "Andy," he was born there and lived his entire life advocating for its share in the five-part pie, which he thought may not have been fairly divided.
It was Cooper's leadership and relentless advocacy for a Black representative to Congress that yielded Shirley Chisholm as the first for the borough. Cooper's name had been petitioned to take the honor. But

Cooper was born to be a newspaper man.
Readers relied on his weekly "One Man's Opinion," and vVashington, D.C., was farther than readers wanted to go to know what Andy had to say.
He was the anticipated voice of the Amsterdam News and, as a columnist, riled more than a few to do the right thing.
His voice echoed on the pages of The Village Voic e, where he bylined investigative pieces detailing the who, what, when, . why, where and how of City Hall, Albany and \Vashington.
\Vhen Cooper rested his pen, he graduated scores of journal-
(Continued on Page 43)

Cooper

paper. In a city where tabloids ruled

as the source, Cooper 'vas suc-

(Continued from Page 1)

cessful to see the dawn ofthe City

ists to ask those very questions. Sun. Publisher and editor-in-

He founded Trans-Urban News chief, Cooper pledged his motto:

Service in 1977, and for weeks of "speaking truth to power."

intensive journalism training, Ironic as that is, it is Cooper

flooded government with curi- vs. Power, a landmark decision

ous, probative and unstoppable which many recall as significant

interns who were required to in deciding the case for reappor-

provide independent, authorita- tionment of the white 12th Con-

tive viewpoints on news and cur- gressional District, which elected

rent events.

Chisholm.

Cooper~ interns researched

Cooper was born Aug. 21,

and provided reports at radio sta- 1927, and attended Boys High

tion \VLIB, and before gradua- School in Brooklyn. He attended

tion, were published reporters in . Adelphi University.

The Village Voice, The New York

'~dy was a beacon of light for

Times and The ]\Tew York Amster- all New Yorkers," said Don Rojas,

dam N ews.

CEO of the online publication

And while his legacy lives The Black World Today.

with the many Black journalists Rev. Alford Sharpton who

scattered throughout the news- knew cooper since he was a

rooms of New York, Cooper's final teenager said, ''Andy was a pio-

dream was to have his own news- neer, a trailblazer, who took the

Black Press to another level." And while his public persona
had its place, privately, Cooper maintained a reputation as a father figure to Paul Jackson, Vivian Scott Chew and others.
"I am so grateful that my friend Jocelyn allowed me to share her dad with her. He was more than a father figure to me. He was my friend, my mentor, my hero," Scott Chew said.
When dusk fell last Monday at 5:20p.m., Cooper was surrounded by his entire family. He is survived by his beloved wife, Jocelyn; two accomplished daughters, Andrea Andrews and Jocelyn; grandson Damani; great-grandson Lev; brothers Robert and Milton; and a number of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Funeral services will be held on Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 128 Henry St. in Brooklyn.

Andy Cooper has spent all of his life in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area. He was born in 1927 on Grand Street and was educated in the local schools. After his graduation from Boy's High School in 1947, he worked with his father in a family-owned stationery store. When his father died in 1953, Andy went to work for The F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company as a checker in the loading department. Meanwhile, he attended Brooklyn College at night. In 1960 he was promoted to
foreman and in 1965 to regional salesman. In 1966 he was made
Manager of Community Relations. Andy has long been active in community affairs. He has served as:
Director of Operation Unemployment; Chairman of the Labor and Employment Committee-Unity Democratic Club and Campaign Director for the election of Jones-Chisholm-Thompson in 1966. He was also a member of the Committee to Unseat the Mississippi Congressmen and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1964. He is best known for his role in the lawsuit of Cooper vs. Power. The suit was brought to protest the racially-discriminating districting of the BedfordStuyvesant area which deprived its residents of representation in Congress. As a . result of the attention focused on the case, the 12th Congressional District was created. This OPENED THE DOORS for the residents to have their first local voice in federal politics.
Andy married the former Jocelyn Clopton in October 1949. They h ave two daughters, Andrea, 16 years old, and Jo -An, 4 years old. Mrs. Cooper shares her husband's interest in community affairs and has served on a number of committees. She is presently working as Director of Volunteers for the City of New York Headstart Program.

The Cooper Family (l. tor.) - Andrea, Andy Cooper holding Jo-An, Mrs. Cooper and Jocelyn Cooper (standing).
- 370

NOR W OOPER
for
STATE SENATOR
He opened the doors ...
De~ocratic Primary- June 18, 1968

COOPER SPEAKS OUT ...
On Senator Thompson's Record
I applaud the excellent record of Senator Thompson in calling attention to community problems. The New Insurance Pool, the Divorce Bill, the Seek Program, are all monuments of his efforts.
If elected, I wi.ll continue the fight to demand Bedford-Stuyvesant's fair share, which is absolutely vital for the life of our community.
On Housing
The only answer is a massive program of aid to housing. I will introduce bills that would : institute a program of low-interest mortgages for NEW housing, establish a state-supervised mortgage pool, expand the State's Rent Supplement program.
On Education
I support community control of our schools. I will push for a speed-up in the construction of new schools so
that our children get the education they deserve. Textbooks must be revised to reflect our black heritage.
On Safe Communities
People must feel free to walk the streets without fear of hoodlums or police. I will propose a state aid to local police program to provide more police and better equipment.
On Job Opportunities
. The discrimination in our unions, particularly the construction unions, must end. I will call for an investigation of the unfair standards applied to Negroes and Puerto Ricans for apprenticeships.
I propose legislation similar to Senator Robert Kennedy's which called for greater use of local labor on construction in slum areas. I will introduce a bill requiring that community residents make up at least SO% of the total work force, both skilled and semi-skilled, on construction projects to eliminate ghettos.
More craft training and industrial centers must be set up to teach basic skills to our young.
On Child Welfare and Working Mothers I will press for the establishment of state-financed child care day centers. Mothers must be able to work in full confidence that their children are well cared for. Our community is tragically short of these necessary centers.
On Narcotics Narcotics traffic must be stopped at the source. The big-time operators who hook our children must be made to pay for their crimes. I propose the enactment of legislation to provide mandatory life imprisonment for the conviction of engaging in the business of trading in narcotics.

COOPER VS POWER A Landmark For Bedford-Stuyvesant
will This year, for the first time in history, Bedford-Stuyvesant have
a voice in Congress. The new Twelfth Congressional District is the result of a Federal
Court suit brought by Andrew Cooper together with Joan Bacchus Antoine and Paul Kerrigan.
The lawsuit was begun because Andy Cooper and his associates were upset with the way the one-man-one-vote principle had by-passed our area. The Brooklyn districts were drawn so that Bed-Stuy was fragmented among five different congressional districts. The large black community, divided into five submerged minorities, could not have a united voice in a selection of a Congressman. There was no hope that a black Congressman could be elected frorri Brooklyn. Andy Cooper decided that the Constitution must be enforced in Bed-Stuy; and the historic lawsuit was started.
A t~ree-judge Federal Court was appointed to hear the case in Brooklyn. Soon afterward, in Manhattan, a similar case was instituted by the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party's attack was on the state-wide districting, but it did not raise the issue of discrimination.
In December 1967, the Manhattan court, dealing with the issues raised in both the Cooper Brooklyn case and t_ e Liberal Party statewide case, decided the latter case and directed state-wide redistricting. It directed not only that the new districts be compact but also that gerrymandering be eliminated.
In response to the court's decision, the Legislature in March 1968 created the new Twelfth Congressional District. For the first time, THE DOORS WERE OPENED so that the Negro-Puerto Rican community had a voice in federal politics.
Andy Cooper (l.) is cusses the elections with State Senator r-"''liam C. Thompson.

A memorial service will be held in denounced as "tortuous, artificial and lab-

'Brooklyn Heights on Friday for Andrew yrinthine."

Coop~r, a journalist, civil rights activist The result was the election in 1968 of

and publisher of the defunct ~ity Sun, Shirley Chisholm as the nation's first

'who died Jan. 28. He was 74.
The service at the First Presbyterian Church, 124 Henry St., will begin at 6:30
:p.m:

black female member of Congress. Cooper, who lived all his life in Brook-
_lyn and once wrote-a weekly column for
the Amsterdam News, founded City Sun in 1984. Until its demise in 1996, the

1 Cooper altered the shape of New York black weekly was known for its crusad-

politics when he -led a campaign in the ipg journalism and its fearless attacks on

'1960s to create asingle.corigressional dis- politicians, both blacks and whites.

trict to serve Bedford-Stuyvesant. The He leaves his wife, Jocelyn, and two

Brooklyn neighborhood had been divid- daughters, Andrea Andrews of Manhat-

~d aqwng five districts, a system Cooper tan and-Jocelyn Cooper- of-Brooklyn, -

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THE NEW YORK TIMES OBI UARIES WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30,2002

B7

Andrew W. Co per, 74, Pioneering Journ list

By THOMAS J. LUECK
Andrew W. Cooper, a civil rights advocate and publisher of The City Sun newspaper, a defunct weekly once on tlle must-read list of many black New Yorkers, died in Brooklyn on Monday. He was 74 years old.
The cause was a stroke, his family said.
Mr. Cooper left a permanent iinprint on the city's political landscape in the mid-1960's as lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that challenged the apportionment of Congressional districts in Brooklyn, pardcularly in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The neighborhood was divided at the time among five districts, each with a white member of Congress. Mr. Cooper's challenge to what he called "tortuous, artificial and labyrinthine" districting was joined ~by other litigation, leading to the creation of the 12th Congressional District, .and to the election of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman in Congress.
Mr. Cooper, a lifelong Brooklyn resident, was an executive of the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company from 1951 through 1971, and spent his next 25 years as a journalist. In the mid-1970's he wrote a weekly column for The Amsterdam News called "One Man's Opinion" that explored race, politics and privilege. He also contributed to The Village Voice.
In 1997, he packaged his skills as a reporter and businessman by creat-

Andrew W. Cooper
ing the Trans-Urban News Service, which provided several publications with articles and trained black, Hispanic and female journalists.
Mr. Cooper founded The City Sun in 1984, and the paper immediately grippe_d the attention of many readers with investigative articles on the affairs of black civic leaders. Before it collapsed under financial pressure in 1996, The Sun had stung many politicians with editorials like the one in 1993 that advised Mayor David

An influential civil-
rights advocate in
print and in court.
N. Dinkins, "Frankly, you are beginning to look like a wimp."
"The motto of the paper was 'Speaking Truth to Power,'" said Mr. Cooper's wife, Jocelyn, of Brooklyn. "That's what he was about, providing important information to his constituents, who were black." The phrase is shorthand for a Quaker principle that the truth often helps those in power to stop deluding themselves.
Among several civic and professional affiliations, Mr. Cooper was a former trustee of the Caledonia campus of Brooklyn Hospital Center, director of the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation and a member of One Hundred Black Men Inc. He had served as an adviser to the American Management Association and the National Urban Affairs Council, and as regional vice-chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers' Association.
Besides his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Andrea Andrews of Manhattan and Jocelyn A. Cooper of Brooklyn.

548 3rd Street, Brooklyn , New York t t 2 t 5

It is with great sorrow That the family Of
Andrew Wells Cooper Announces his passing on
January 28, 2002
A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, February 15, 2002 6:30pm First Presbyterian Church 124 Henry Street Brooklyn, New York
Please Join Us In Celebrating His Life