Earl Dana Cooper

EARL DANA COOPER April 16, 1926 – July 3, 2021 Earl Dana Cooper passed away at Spring Village at Pocono in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on July 3, 2021, at the age of 95 due to complications of Parkinson’s Disease. He was born in Washington, D.C. on April 16, 1926 to the late Dana C. and Mildred K. (Schultz) Cooper. He is survived by his beloved wife of 72 years, Elaine L. (Tibben) Cooper of East Stroudsburg, PA. In addition to his wife, survivors include his brother John H. Cooper, sisters-in-law Jacqueline Cooper and Lois Stangohr, children Denise Cooper and Karl Cooper, grandchildren Huntly and Mac Cooper, and five nieces and a nephew along with their families. Earl grew up in Arlington, Virginia and attended Washington & Lee High School. During his senior year, he enlisted in the Navy in February 1944, and after graduation entered the Navy’s V12 pre-flight training program at Hamden Sydney College and then the Naval Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. After his initial discharge following the war, he re-enlisted in the Navy in 1949 and served in the Naval Reserves until 1966 rising to the rank of Lieutenant J.G. After the war, Earl attended George Washington University on the G.I. Bill. He graduated from GW with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1948 and began a 36-year career as a civilian employee of the Navy. Over the course of his career, Earl held a series of roles involving increasing responsibilities for research and development and the acquisition of Navy and Marine Corps weapon systems and he entered the Federal Senior Executive Service. His work included leading and overseeing the research, exploratory development and advanced development of Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, air-launched weapons, avionics, sensors, mine countermeasures, and laser weaponry. In 1980, he was promoted to be the Deputy and Technical Director of the Research and Technology Group of the Naval Air Systems Command. After receiving many awards and commendations during his civilian career with the Navy, in 1984 he received the Navy’s Superior Civilian Service Award, noting that under his guidance and direction, Earl “had made possible the difficult transition from advanced technology concepts to functional fleet systems in a number of distinct warfare areas.” In 1981, Earl received a doctorate in public administration from Nova University. Following his retirement from the Navy in 1984, in 1985 Earl was appointed to serve as the director of the Florida Institute of Technology Graduate Programs in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition, he worked as a consultant on technology forecasting and strategic planning for aerospace firms, defense corporations and government agencies and laboratories. In 1991, Earl and wife Elaine founded their Global Marketing Group as independent business owners for Amway and worked to develop networks in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. A devout Lutheran, Earl was instrumental in the expansion of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod to the mid-Atlantic region from the Midwest. He was a charter member of the first WELS congregation located on the East coast and a member of other WELS congregations both in Virginia and New Jersey later in life.A life-long resident of Northern Virginia, in 2008 he moved to the Pocono Mountains in retirement. A funeral service will be held at Bensing-Thomas Funeral Home, 401 North 5th Street, Stroudsburg, PA 18360 on Saturday, July 17, 2021 at 1:00 pm ET. Interment will take place at Washington Crossing National Cemetery, Newtown, PA on July 26, 2021. In lieu of flowers, donations in Earl’s memory may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church, 40 Coleman Rd, Long Valley, NJ 07853, or to the Parkinson’s Foundation, www.parkinson.org