Notable people · Designer · Typeface Designer
Oswald Bruce Cooper
Born in Mount Gilead, Cooper became a Chicago lettering artist and co-founded the design firm Bertsch & Cooper. He designed the typeface Cooper Black in 1922.
At a glance
- Born
- 1879-04-13
- Died
- 1940-12-17
- Education
- Frank Holme School of Illustration, Chicago, IL
- Known as
- Designer, Typeface Designer
- Organizations
- Bertsch & Cooper
Life story
Oswald Cooper was born in Mount Gilead in 1879 and later lived in Coffeyville, Kansas. In Chicago he studied illustration at Frank Holme's school, where Frederic Goudy taught lettering.
In 1904 he co-founded Bertsch & Cooper, which by 1924 was the largest art production studio in the Midwest with more than fifty employees.
He is best known for Cooper Black (1922), an ultra-heavy face first advertised for 'far-sighted printers with near-sighted customers'. Traditional typographers disliked it, yet it sold well and became American Type Founders' second-best seller after Copperplate Gothic. He was known as shy. He died of cancer in Chicago in 1940.
Timeline
- 1879-04-13: Born (Mount Gilead, OH) source
- 1904: Co-founds Bertsch & Cooper (Chicago, IL) source
- 1920: Marries Mary Lou Foster source
- 1922: Releases Cooper Black (Chicago, IL) source
- 1924: Firm has over fifty employees (Chicago, IL) source
- 1940-12-17: Dies (Chicago, IL) source
- 1949: Festschrift published in his honor source
What Oswald is known for
- Designed Cooper Black (1922)
- Co-founded Bertsch & Cooper (1904)
- Cooper Black (1922)
Family
- wife: Mary Lou Foster
Ohio places
Where Oswald Bruce Cooper was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Born: Mount Gilead, Morrow County ZIP 43338 · Mount Gilead · Morrow County
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.
- Wikipedia: Oswald Bruce Cooper dates, firm, typeface, burial