Paul Cooper

Paul Douglas Cooper of Denver, Colorado passed away on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at the age of 79.

Mr. Cooper was born in Jefferson City, MO to Worlie “Tex” Cooper and Emma Marie Ringo in July 1941. He was raised in the Bonnie Brae region of Denver and attended South High School until his graduation in 1959. As a Rebel he was a swim team Co-Captain who won All-City and All-State honors in swimming and football. He played center and linebacker on South High’s State Championship football team and won the Kiwanis Award for Outstanding Senior Boy in Colorado.

Paul was also an outstanding student, attending The University of Michigan on academic scholarship and graduating with a B.A. in English in 1963. At Michigan, he was a Sigma Chi fraternity member and swam on the NCAA Championship team of 1961.

After college, he attended Hastings Law School in California, graduating in 1966 and passing the Bar in Colorado later that year. He worked as an associate at Dawson, Nagel, Sherman & Howard and then at Rodden, Cooper, Woods & Mitchell before becoming first a Denver U.S. trial deputy and subsequently an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Colorado in 1971. Here he began his extremely successful tenure as a trial attorney, following the DA’s position by joining Hall and Evans in 1973. He partnered with Tom Kelley to form Cooper & Kelley in 1976, a firm that quickly grew to over 40 lawyers practicing regional litigation insurance defense. In 1994 Mr. Cooper merged with another firm to form Cooper & Clough, P.C., where he continued his practice until becoming Of-Counsel in 2015 and retiring in 2019 at Treece, Alfrey, and Musat, P.C. Overall, he took over 150 civil cases to jury trial, in addition to the many criminal cases he tried as a U.S. District Attorney.

Paul is survived by sons Richard and Dean, daughter Natanya, step-son Aari Aal and step-daughter Shoshana Aal.  He was married twice (Elsa Cooper and Kay Rice) and spent the last 11 years with his significant other Jill McCullagh.

The Family asks that friends please share stories at www.horancares.com and join them in person or via webcast on Friday December 11 at 3:00 pm for a celebration of Paul’s life at Horan & McConaty, 1091 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO 80246. They look forward to hearing and sharing remembrances of Paul’s accomplishments and life. Please keep in mind, due to COVID 19 restrictions, we are limiting the attendance to 50 people. If you have any questions, or would like to RSVP, please call the Family or the Funeral Home at 303-757-1238.

To join over webcast, please visit: https://bxcited.com/pauldcooper/

You can remember Paul by sending a tax free donation to Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) online at https://www.ccaifamily.org/Charity/DonationForm and indicate in comments that it is in honor of Paul, or mail your check to: 6920 S Holly Cir. Centennial, CO 80112.