ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The Island lost a beloved figure with the passing of Bob “Coop” Cooper on Saturday, July 3.
Cooper passed away at Tidewell Hospice in Bradenton, where he spent the final weeks of his life comforted by Louise Schippers, his girlfriend for the past 16 years. Cooper entered Tidewell Hospice recently because he was suffering from emphysema and some of his organs were beginning to fail.
“He’s the most kind-hearted person – a give-you-the-shirt-off-his-back kind of guy. He loved people. He loved helping people. He has a good soul and he’s my love,” Schippers said less than a week before Cooper passed away.
Known to many on and around Anna Maria Island as “Coop” or “Coop da Loop,” Cooper is also survived by his son, Bobby Cooper, his daughter, Amber Cooper and his granddaughter Jewelee – all of whom live in the area. Cooper was 62 years old when he passed and he originally hailed from Westfield, Mass.
Before Cooper’s passing, Anchor Inn owner Darla Tingler started a GoFundMe page called “Support & Love for Coop da Loop.” The header on the fundraising page says, “COOP – The Myth, the Man, the Legend!”
As of Sunday afternoon, the GoFundMe page had raised $4,005 and those fundraising efforts remain active. The funds raised will be used for Cooper’s final expenses and will also assist Schippers with her ongoing living expenses.
Island resident and Anchor Inn patron Robert Docherty knew Cooper well.
“I’ve been telling people at the Anchor Inn the story of one of the many times Coop and I played pool at the Anchor. Coop was a pro pool player – me, just a sometimes lucky amateur. We were down to the eight ball and Coop told me to hit a certain spot on the rail to do a multiple rail bank. I hit the rail where he indicated and made the shot. He smiled and said, ‘Now you can say you beat me.’ Anytime I’d run into him he’d smile, compliment the shirt I happened to be wearing and say it would look better on him. Those conversations would make me smile,” Docherty recently wrote in a Facebook post about Cooper’s worsening condition.
Cooper was a maintenance man at the Club Longboat beach and tennis resort in Longboat Key.
“They loved him there. He was like their son. He would do anything and fix anything even if it wasn’t under the auspices of his duties,” said Caryn Hodge, his good friend and former girlfriend of 10 years.
Hodge said Cooper’s been a familiar figure on Anna Maria Island for at least 40 years.
“He lived life the way he wanted to live and he liked to party. He’d walk in the bar and people would holler ‘Coop,’” Hodge said the week before Cooper passed. “He has a heart of gold. He’d give you the last dime in his pocket.”
According to Hodge, Cooper was also a local hero.
“Many years ago, there were two older people in a car headed north on Marina Drive, near the marina basin. Something happened and their car went into the water. Coop happened to be passing by and he jumped out, with a cast on leg, and jumped in the water and saved these two old people. He was hailed as a hero. I was at the Anchor waiting on him and he was late. When he got there, I was mad because he was late. He said, “I had to save two old people from drowning.’ I said that’s a great story, but I’m not believing you. Then I saw the news coverage,” Hodge recalled.
Hodge said Cooper liked to collect and repair other people’s discarded items – many of which he would then give to those in need.
“He was always trying to help people,” Hodge said.
“He worked really hard. In his time off he loved boating, fishing with friends and playing golf; and he liked his beer,” she added.
Hodge said some of the volunteers at Tidewell Hospice were amazed at the number of visitors Cooper received during his short stay there.
Former Island resident Tracy Eckert said, “Coop was one of the first people I met when I moved to Anna Maria Island 18 years ago. He jokingly said to me, ‘Rumor has it you’re a federal agent.’ With that witty sense of humor, I bonded with him right away. I loved how he provided the Anchor Inn with a library of books that people could take and read. I took many of those books over the years. I never heard a bad word said about him. He was truly one of the good guys.”
Holmes Beach resident David Zaccagnino said, “Coop was my neighbor and I knew him for a long time. He was a staple of the Island and a good guy who always had a funny joke to share.”
