Lawrence Owen Cooper Sr.

Education and career Cooper received his secondary education at Culkin Academy, a high school in rural Warren County.

While working full time, Cooper was actively involved in Jackson's First Baptist Church and volunteered as director of the Baptist Student Unions for Millsaps College and Belhaven College.

When Cooper was replaced by a political appointee at the State Planning Commission in 1940, he became director of research and organization at Mississippi Farm Bureau as an advocate for policies that would benefit Mississippi farmers. In his new career position, Cooper initiated several Farm Bureau insurance programs within the state to provide affordable health insurance, life insurance, and property insurance to farm families. Cooper retired as MAP chairman in 1975. In 1975, FMC became Mississippi's first state chartered company to have its shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. His portrait is on display in Mississippi's Old Capitol Museum in Jackson.

Owen Cooper died on November 8, 1986.