Charles I. "Charlie" Cooper Jr.

Charles Irwin Cooper, Jr., passed away November 19th, 2018. Born in East St. Louis, Ill on August 29, 1939 to Charles I. Cooper Sr. (deceased) and Dorothy (Schafner) Cooper Cusack (deceased) of Belleville, Ill. Charlie Cooper is survived by his wife of 60 years, Beverlee (Biggs) Cooper, Dawn Cooper McCown, (daughter), Darren Cooper (son), his 3 grandchildren, Amber Timmerman, Justin Timmerman, Ashley Cooper and 2 great grandchildren, Ari Suder and Ashton Suder. He is also survived by his siblings, Shelley Cooper Brandenburg, Barbara Cooper Albiniak, Marabeth Cooper Foreman, Robyn Cooper Ramsey, Bobby Cusack and Missy Cusack Adams.
Charlie attended East Side High School where he lettered in varsity baseball and track. He was active in his church as a youth counselor for Southern Baptist Church, East St. Louis. Relationships were very important to Charlie, the friends he made from grade school on through high school remained his friends throughout their lives. By his own confession, the most important relationship in his life was when he met his wife of 60 years in the high school library.
He graduated from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill in 1961 with a degree in Business Administration with a minor Economics. He worked multiple jobs throughout the year and summer to put himself through college. After graduation he moved to Dayton Ohio and worked as an assistant buyer for Rike- Kumler department store. He then worked with ATT&T in sales. With his love and skill for woodworking, he became a manager for the W/S Remodeling Co., until he turned his talents to the real estate business. While working with Mills and Wright Realtors he was awarded the distinguished Top Salesman Award for the state of Ohio selling 130 houses in one year, a feat that had not been done previously. He was the top salesman every year that he worked for Mills and Wright. He was a partner with Cooper Bruner, Duffy Realty. When they disbanded, he became a co-partner at Cooper Domesick Realty.
Charlie left the real estate business and became a stockbroker with E. F. Hutton. (E.F. Hutton became Shearson, then Soloman Smith Barney and in the present day it is Morgan
Stanley) Though the company changed names several times, he stayed with the Morgan Stanley until 2009 and finished his career as a Sr. Vice President of Sales.
Charlie didn’t have hobbies, he had obsessions with the passion of his activities. Golf was the main sports pursuit throughout much of his life. Anyone who played golf with him throughout the years could attest to his fierce competitiveness and his wicked sense of humor on the course. He also kept close to his baseball roots by playing in recreational baseball until nearly 60 years of age. But not just baseball, he played flag football as well as pick up games with some of the neighborhood kids. He enjoyed many years at the Cincinnati Reds Dream camp. He rode snowmobiles, starting with short family trips tooling around trails in MI until Beverlee had quite enough of that. Then he proceeded to bigger treks in MI and the Upper Peninsula, some trips 1000 miles round trip. If you snowmobiled with Charlie, you were subject to speed, long into the night on the trails and multiple break downs. In short- fun.
He collected vintage cars and motorcycles. He was a master craftsman and furniture maker, sharing those skills by making furniture pieces for friends and family. Charlie loved life. He had what he loved and loved what he had. He didn’t have a bucket list because he lived it every day. He worked hard and played just as hard. He never wasted a minute.