David Shearer Cooper ’44

Dave Cooper, who joined the Class of ’44 after transferring from the University of Virginia, died Aug. 11, 2009.

Born in Minneapolis, Dave came to Princeton in pursuit of a music career and to be near Eastern musical centers. He got a “superb education,” he said, through the teaching of composer Roger Sessions in Princeton’s music department, a major influence in his professional life. In June 1944, he was the lone music major among only six ’44ers to graduate on time. His close friends were Ted Meth, Alan Miller and later, while getting a master’s degree at Berkeley, Chaloner Spencer, after whom he later named a child.

He went from Princeton into the Department of State’s Diplomatic Courier Service, traveling to the Near East, Far East, and South America. He became chief of the music branch of the United States Information Agency; then, active as a composer, he was named dean of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and served on the advisory council to Princeton’s music department.

In 1961, Dave came to New York as vice president of the Associated Music Publishers, moving to the post of executive director when that firm was acquired by the Manhattan School of Music. A lover of steamships, travel, and yachting, Dave’s last business roles were as a cruise specialist and musician.

He married his wife, Ann, in 1943. He is survived by his daughter, Susan Cooper.