W. A. Cooper - Submitted for the USGenWeb by Richard P. Sevier 3/1/2012

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W. A. Cooper - Madison Parish, Louisiana

From Tallulah Madison Journal July 23, 1970

Tallulah developer dies at age 79

W. A. Cooper, 79, one of Tallulah's most well-known real estate developers and collector of revenues 
under two governors, died at 8:30 a.m. Sunday at Methodist Hospital in Memphis Tennessee.

Cooper, who developed the W. A. Cooper subdivisions in Tallulah, was also the man whose audit reports 
helped unravel the tangled finances of L S U during the "Louisiana Scandals".

He and his wife were traveling into Tennessee to visit relatives when he was stricken with a heart attack. 
He was a resident of 4260 Whitehaven Street in Baton Rouge.

A native of Tennessee who came to Louisiana as a school teacher in 1913, Cooper was already a 20-year 
veteran of state service when the notorious scandals broke in the late 1930's.

Cooper's career in accounting for public monies extended back to 1917 when he was appointed assistant to 
W. U. McFarland, the supervisor of public accounts, an office similar to the present-day legislative 
auditor's. Cooper left McFarland's staff after a few months and worked for the federal department of 
revenue and then joined the army. He returned to McFarland's staff in 1920 and remained in the supervisor's 
office through the 1920s and was retained after Gov. Huey P. Long appointed E. A. Conway as supervisor 
of public accounts in 1928.

Cooper later served briefly as an assistant to Miss Alice Lee Grosjean, Long's secretary of state, and 
in 1934 became director of the newly created state income tax division, which he organized.

In 1937, Cooper became supervisor of public funds under the administration of Gov. Richard Leche.

After the mishandling of money at LSU came to light, and Leche subsequently resigned and opened the way 
for Lt. Gov. Earl Long to become the chief executive, Cooper was elevated to collector of revenue in 1939.

It was during his tenure as supervisor of public funds, however, that Cooper at Leche's request, made 
three extensive audits of LSU's operations. Reported in detail and often critically, Cooper's audit 
showed an entanglement and channeling of money on the campus and the reports became a basis for indictments 
of public officials.

With the change of administration in 1940, Cooper left state service but returned in 1948 when Earl Long, 
the new governor, appointed him to his old job as collector of revenue.

During most of the eight-year interval out of state office, Cooper was city auditor for Baton Rouge and 
then deputy assessor of East Baton Rouge Parish.

Cooper's major public service ended in 1952, though he was on East Baton Rouge jury commission from 1957 
until his death. Besides his public offices, Cooper also was a real estate developer in Baton Rouge and 
held extensive business interests in Tensas Parish.

Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Welsh Funeral Home in Baton Rouge, with the Rev. Henry Pickett 
officiating. Burial was in Rest-haven Gardens of Memory.

Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Johne Bowles Cooper, a son, Peter V. H. Cooper, Shreveport; two daughters, 
Mrs. R. F, Hall, Maumee, Ohio, and Mrs. Alfred M. Holden, Baton Rouge, and three brothers, two sisters 
and nine grandchildren.