Dr. Oscar James Cooper (1888 - 1972)

Dr. Oscar James Cooper was born in Washington, D.C., cane of God fearing and ambitious parents, who desired their son to control himself and master the arts expected of the fine gentleman. Taught by his parents to be punctilious and neat in his dress and distinctly chivalrous in his manners, Dr. Cooper was never flashy or ostentatious, remaining fashionable, prim and precise.

Upon finishing the elementary schools of Washington, Dr. Cooper completed his grammar schooling at the M Street High School, now known as Dunbar High. After graduating with honors in 1909, Dr. Cooper entered the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of Howard University, where in 1913 he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, and in 1917, the Doctor of Medicine. Some of the academic subjects had little interest for him, for his all-absorbing interest in college was Biology. His aptness and proficiency along this line drew him rapidly to Professor Ernest Everett Just, a Biology Professor at Howard. So accomplished was Dr. Cooper in this subject that he was made a laboratory assistant in Biology. 

"....we should add one more cardinal principle, if not actually we should make it part of our future activities, service; for it is the one thing that dominate all business and economic life today. It is the key not of all living vital agencies which are set up in the interest of mankind, and it is the one thing that makes life in whatever sense we wish to consider it, worthwhile. Let it be said of Omega of the future that 'we live to serve our fellow man.'" 

It was through this association, and the guidance of Dr. Just that he and fellow Juniors Frank Coleman and Edgar Love founded the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity in the fall of 1911.

Upon completing his residency, Dr. Cooper settled in Philadelphia, PA and worked untiringly and persistently for over 50 years, building one of the most lucrative medical practices to be found in Philadelphia.