| Founder,
President, and CEO of the Cooper Aerobics Center
When Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., published his first bestseller,
Aerobics, in 1968, he introduced a new word and a new concept to America.
Millions of people started exercising, motivated by his preventive medicine
research, persuasive public appearances, and a series of inspiring books. In
short, a young Air Force physician who had once been a track star in his
native Oklahoma had started a worldwide fitness revolution.
By 1970 Dr. Cooper's dream was becoming a reality with
the launch of The
Cooper Aerobics Center. The early clinic and research
institute were housed
in a two-story Colonial style mansion, surrounded by 13
acres of landscaped
lawns and open space for the anticipated expansion. A
gymnasium and exercise
facilities were added a year later, and in 1979 the medical
and research
units moved next door into the newly constructed Cooper
Clinic,
reestablishing the original building as an activity center.
With more than
2,000 members by 1981, the Aerobics Activity Center (now
Cooper Fitness
Center) flourished. The 1980s proved to be a time of significant
growth with
the construction of The Guest Lodge hotel for travelers
and the acquisition
of an adjacent building, which was renovated to house
the nonprofit Cooper
Institute for Aerobics Research (now The Cooper Institute).
Dr. Cooper next
developed an intensive live-in program, Cooper Wellness
Program, offering
participants four-, six-, or 13-day sessions for total
wellness assessment
and lifestyle modification. The 1990s brought additional
development,
spreading Dr. Cooper's wellness goals across the 30-acre
campus with the
creation of The Spa and, ultimately, across the world,
with the inception of
Cooper Ventures consulting services. Bringing the Cooper
message into the
new millennium, Cooper Concepts, developer of Cooper Complete
nutritional
supplements, launched "Healthy Living with Dr. Ken
Cooper," a nationally
syndicated radio show. Just a few years later, The Cooper
Institute also
expanded to encompass a research facility in Denver, Colo.
Stretching his international reach, Dr. Cooper has lectured
in over 50
countries and authored 18 books, which have been translated
in 41 languages
and Braille and total more than 30 million copies sold.
In Brazil, running
is called coopering or doing the cooper, and the cooperteszt
is the national
fitness test in Hungary.
From the time of his first book in 1968, Dr. Cooper has advocated
revolutionizing the field of medicine away from disease
treatment to disease
prevention through aerobic exercise. The Cooper philosophy,
"It is easier to
maintain good health through proper exercise, diet, and
emotional balance
than to regain it once it is lost," has been proven
valid in scientific
research. Still receiving dozens of citations every year
is The Cooper
Institute's 1989 landmark study, published in the renowned
Journal of the
American Medical Association, showing the relationship
between fitness and
mortality in some 13,000 patients.
Recognized for more than three decades as the leader
of the international
physical fitness movement, Dr. Cooper is credited with
motivating more
people to exercise in pursuit of good health than any
other person. At The
Cooper Aerobics Center, as president and CEO, Dr. Cooper
is supported by a
400-person staff in carrying out his mission to educate
and encourage
optimum health in as many segments of the population as
possible. Dr. Cooper
sets an example for maintaining a healthy lifestyle by
exercising at the
Center on a regular basis, and his wife Millie, daughter
Berkley, and son
Tyler may also be seen coopering.
|
6 Minute
National Barter