Leo Cooper

Leonard Cooper (25 March 1934 – 29 November 2013) was a British publisher who worked for numerous publishing houses before setting up his own independent publishing house, Leo Cooper Ltd, in 1968.

Biography Cooper was educated at Radley College where he took charge of the military band and distinguished himself in rugby and cricket. He was capped at cricket for the Yorkshire schoolboys; in later life he smashed Denis Compton for six with such vigour that he toppled a spectator sitting in a wheelchair into a nearby pond.

His publishing business was based upon monumental works such as Lord Anglesey's eight-volume History of the British Cavalry (1973-95) and the Famous Regiments series. He was always on the look out for what George Orwell called "unofficial history", such as Antonia Hunt's Little Resistance (1982), the extraordinary story of an English schoolgirl's experiences in German-occupied France.

Cooper died in 2013, aged 79. in 1961 following the break-up of his first marriage to Diana, his former housemaster's daughter. They also had five grandchildren. In 1990, publisher Sarah Johnson publicly revealed that she had been having an affair with Cooper for the previous six years. Cooper and his wife separated after this revelation, but they eventually reconciled.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2001.