THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 7, 1995 TAG: 9510070199
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Mary Thelma Cooper, 91, longtime Norfolk cultural leader, died Oct. 5, 1995, at her residence.
She was born in New York and moved to Norfolk in 1927, when she married Norfolk real estate entrepreneur Dudley Cooper. Before her marriage, she was a newspaper writer in New York and Florida with her own byline column called ``Around the Shops with Mary.''
She was the founder of the Norfolk Civic Ballet, which at its zenith danced for Presidents of the United States at the Azalea Festival, and since then under various names, presently the Virginia Ballet Theater, has provided a school that has sent nearly 200 dancers from the Mary T. Cooper School of Dance to national ballet and dance companies across America.
She has been active and a sponsor of many cultural activities, including the Virginia Symphony, Old Dominion University and the former William and Mary concert series. In the 1940s, she was active in the Norfolk Little Theater, where she performed leading roles.
She was independent and outspoken in her beliefs. She was a founder of the Women's Interracial Council and a supporter of Jewish causes. She received a joint lifetime achievement award with her husband from the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith in 1991.
She is survived by her husband, Dudley Cooper, and by two sons, Joel B. Cooper and Charles N. Cooper, of Norfolk. She also leaves six grandchildren, Wendy A. Cooper, C. Neilson Cooper Jr., John M. Cooper, Erik S. Cooper, Catherine C. Augus and Jefferson S. Cooper, and two great-grandchildren. She herself, one of ten children, is survived by a brother, Ulysses Sam Miller of Norfolk, as well as numerous nieces and nephews and other family.
The funeral will be held at the H.D. Oliver Funeral Apts., Norfolk Chapel, at noon Sunday, Oct. 8. Interment will follow at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Rabbi Lawrence A. Forman will officiate. The family will be at home at 7339 Barberry Lane in Norfolk today, beginning at 7 p.m. and also following the funeral on Sunday. The family requests that donations be made to Ohef Sholom Temple, Virginia Ballet Theater, or to a charity of choice, and that flowers be omitted.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY
by CNB