02/25/2026
We celebrate the wonderful life of Richard Ellis Cooper.
Dick grew up across the street from the Methodist church in a small Amish-country community that instilled in him a lifelong reverence for faith, the natural world, and honest curiosity. A gifted educator with a Ph.D. in Science Education from Michigan State University, Dick built a distinguished career shaped by the belief that good teaching could change a child’s life. He met Kathy at Hiram College, and together they pursued that conviction across the country. From Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science to the Pueblo communities of New Mexico, Dick brought hands-on science to Native American children in a way that honored their culture rather than displacing it. That work ultimately carried them east to Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he served as Science Curriculum Supervisor for the Danvers school district. It was during those New England years, that Dick and Kathy welcomed their son Jonathan into the family through adoption. Later roles at General Electric and Scitex preceded their return to the Cleveland area, where they settled in North Olmsted before moving to North Huntingdon in 2013 to be near family. Faith in God was the steady current beneath Dick’s entire life. Deepened through Koinonia and lived out in Stephen Ministry and years of Sunday school teaching, his faith was active and relational. He had a teacher’s gift for making children genuinely curious about Jesus. Throughout his life, Dick enjoyed many hobbies including scuba diving, fly fishing, woodworking, and traveling. After a Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2009, Dick met the disease with characteristic resolve, becoming a driving force behind a local support community for patients and caregivers. As mobility and speech became more limited, those around him were still regularly treated to a brief, well-timed remark that made clear he was present, listening, and smiling.
View Richard Ellis Cooper's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.
