Edward Cooper

Edward Cooper (October 26, 1824 – February 25, 1905) was an American politician who served as the 84th Mayor of New York City from 1879 to 1880 and the second president of the Cooper Union. He was the only surviving son of industrialist Peter Cooper.

Early life Cooper was born in New York City on October 26, 1824. He was the son of Peter Cooper (1791–1883) and Sarah Raynor (née Bedell) Cooper (1793–1869). His sister Amelia Cooper (1830–1912) was married to Abram Stevens Hewitt (1822–1903), who also served as mayor of New York from 1887 to 1888.

He was the grandson of John O. Cooper (1755–1838), a hatmaker who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and Margaret Campbell (1762–1841). He completed his studies in 1842 and in 1845, Columbia awarded him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

Career In partnership with Abram S. Hewitt, Cooper operated an iron works in Trenton, New Jersey. Edward Cooper also became a metallurgist and inventor, developing several improvements to iron making and metalworking. He declined to patent his inventions, believing that they could better serve the public if he made them widely available. After Peter Cooper's death in 1883, Edward Cooper succeeded to the presidency of the Cooper Union.

Active in politics as a Democrat, Cooper was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, and the 1876 Democratic National Convention in St. Louis. With Hewitt, Samuel J. Tilden and others, Cooper was recognized as a leader of the Swallowtails, named for the Swallowtail coat. The Swallowtails were prominent Democratic businessmen and professionals who opposed the Tammany Hall Democratic organization and attempted to introduce government reforms and end corruption. Cooper served as a member of the Committee of Seventy, which investigated and prosecuted Tammany Hall corruption. In 1875, Tilden was Governor of New York, and named Cooper to a commission which proposed anti-corruption reforms for inclusion in the New York Constitution.

In 1890, Abram S. Hewitt partnered with Edward Cooper and Hamilton M. Twombly in forming the American Sulphur Company. That company then entered into a 50/50 agreement with Herman Frasch and his partners to form the Union Sulphur Company.

Society life In 1892, Cooper and his wife were included in Ward McAllister's "The Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.

Personal life In 1854, Cooper was married to Cornelia Redmond (1829–1894), the daughter of James Morton Redmond and Anne (née Bowne) Redmond. Together, they were the parents of two children, one of whom lived to maturity: Edith Cooper (1854–1916), who married Lloyd Stephens Bryce, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Minister to the Netherlands, in 1879. His sister was Clemence Smith Bryce, who married Nicholas Fish, the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Belgium and was the mother of Hamilton Fish.