Dr. Cooper spent a lifetime in the service in academia, government and industry. He served on boards of directors of major firms, including Trimble, where he served as chairman of the board, and BAE North America as a director on the Board of Directors. He also has served on advisory boards that included the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council, the Georgia Tech Research Institute and the University of Maryland.

In 1985, Dr. Cooper was founder and became president, chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of Directors of Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation. Atlantic Aerospace was devoted to providing cutting-edge electronics. In 1999, Atlantic Aerospace became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Titan Corporation and Dr. Cooper continued on as president and director until his retirement in 2005.

From 1981 to 1985, Dr. Cooper was Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Technology and simultaneously held the position of director for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). As Assistant Secretary, he was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on the allocation of department resources to research, exploratory development and advanced development process.

In his role as director of DARPA, Dr. Cooper directed the technical activities of one of the foremost advanced research and development organizations in the government. Under his direction, the agency produced major accomplishments and started new R&D programs in such diverse areas as advanced aeronautical systems, gallium arsenide microelectronic circuits, and new generation computing technology employing artificial intelligence concepts. Under Dr. Cooper's direction, DARPA had a strong influence on the nation's technical future through leveraged investments in promising high-risk, high-payoff research projects.

In 1979, Dr. Cooper became the Vice President of Engineering for Satellite Business Systems, a consortium set up to provide integrated voice, high speed data, electronic mail and video teleconferencing services. He was in charge of all research and development for an advanced digital burst communication system, employing satellites and customer premise earth stations.

In 1975, Dr. Cooper became director of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, where he served until 1979. As center director, he was responsible for the work of 3,700 scientists, engineers and support personnel engaged in astronomy and astrophysics, space-based communications and the remote sensing of the Earth and its weather by unmanned satellites.

From 1972 to 1975, Dr. Cooper served in the Department of Defense as the assistant director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) setting policy, budgets and monitoring programs for defense satellite systems as well as providing DDR&E coordination with the intelligence community.

From 1963 to 1972, Dr. Cooper was an assistant professor of electrical engineering at MIT and later a group leader and then a division director at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Dr. Cooper was an accomplished athlete and scholar, graduating with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1963. His education was made possible by many sports and academic scholarships. In the mid-1950s, he served for two years in the Air Force, as a lieutenant at Eglin Air Force Base.