Col. Jeff Cooper Passed Away

[CenTX]

Jeff died peacefully at home this afternoon

while being cared for by his wife Janelle and daughter Lindy.

There will be a private internment at Gunsite by invitation, with a

public memorial service at the Whittington Center at a date to be

announced.

[Grump]

A sad day. I hope that my belief that he lived full and well is accurate. Thoughts and prayers to his wife and daughter.

I will miss his insights into the world sitrep. Still have an original of "Cooper vs. Terrorism" from G&A, circa 1975.

He surely enriched my life through the print media.

[Pierruiggi]

RIP, Jeff.

[MikeFoley]

Thanks Colonel.

[old shooter]

DVC Jeff, There will never be another. We all owe you to some degree whether we agreed with you or not. We would never be where we are today without your hard work getting us started. Thanks

Mike

[ima45dv8]

A true visionary. He saw the way and went to it.

Thank you, Col. Cooper.

[outerlimits]

a true pioneer and patriot. we all owe him alot. he also had the absolute best quote regarding a golf course.

[big_kahuna]

Farewell Colonel... and Semper Fidelis.

[lynn jones]

thank you sir for all you have done for us! what a pioneer!

respectfully yours

lynn

Edited September 26, 2006 by lynn jones

[ShaunH]

I’ll miss his articles and his pearls of wisdom. Thank you for your contributions! You’ll be sorely missed Colonel!

[Shawn Knight]

I don't know about anyone else but I am going out for a victory shoot this weekend! I am going to make sure he can hear me where ever he is!!! I will be shootin' 1911 single stack .45, an M1, and some Tannerite just for you Jeff!!!

Sleep well man! Sleep well. You have earned it!!!

To a great man that lived an extraordinary life. Thanks for our sport and many others that came about because of it!

Edited September 26, 2006 by theknightoflight

[XRe]

You'll be missed, Colonel.

[North]

Thank You, Sir.

[Radical Precision Designs]

My condolences to his family and to those he called friends.

We have lost a great man...

His Spirit will forever be with us, along with his memory.

R. I. P.

[smokshwn]

Thank you sir, RIP

[Julien Boit]

A very sad day for all of us.

I think we all lost a spiritual father/grandfather.

Thank you Colonel for what you brought to us.

RIP

[Skywalker]

I had read here about his illness and the desire to peacefully die at home instead of in an hospital, I am glad this last part came true, but nonetheless it is a saddening loss.

I enjoyed reading the "Cooper's corner" in Guns & Ammo magazine in the past, it was an informative insight and depicted the colonel's personality very clearly.

For those that want to read more ... Guns & Ammo mag

[carinab]

I just got off the phone with the coach of the ladies Sure Shot team back in San Diego, Roy Bohmfalk. He shot with Jeff for a lot of years during the Big Bear Valley days in California (starting circa 1959). He told me a lot of great stories from that era and a number of them were about Jeff. It seems appropriate to mention one of the larger than life stories here.

At one of the leather slap matches, Jeff did a demonstration where he had a sharpened axe positioned between two steel plates at 10 yards, a ballon in front of each plate. Using a .45, he drew and point shot from the hip at the blade. He successfully split the bullet in two popping both balloons and ringing the plates. In 1993, Roy organized a trip for his students to GunSite where he visited his old friend. Hanging on the wall of Jeff's shop was that exact axe, streaks of lead down the blade. Most of Roy's students had heard the story and thought it was a tall tale not believing it could be done. When Roy pointed out the axe, he said everyone stood there staring at it in awe.

To say that Jeff influenced the world of shooting is an understatement. God rest your soul and thank you for all your work.

[Josh Biondi]

RIP Mr. Colonel.....

[m.e.t.]

From the arms of his family to the arms of his God. A fitting end to a great man.

Rest well sir.

[CenTX]

For those wishing to to send a card, the address is:

2950 W Gunsite Rd

Paulden, AZ 86334-4301

[mpeltier]

RIP Colonel Cooper. You will be missed by many.

[Nemo]

The Colonel may have died but he will never leave.

Thank you Sir.

Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas

Precott Daily Courier, 26 September 2006.

Edited to add newspaper article

Edited September 26, 2006 by Nemo

[Nemo]

From the Prescott Daily Courier

September 26, 2006

America lost a hidden gem

America lost a national treasure Monday, but most Americans will never know it.

Yet many of those Americans may be alive today because of John Dean "Jeff" Cooper, who died Monday afternoon at the Sconce, his beloved home near Gunsite, the shooting training center he founded about 10 miles north of Chino Valley.

Most people who know anything about guns and shooting know who Jeff Cooper was. They rightly called him "The Gunner's Guru." He was the world's foremost expert on small arms (rifles, shotguns and handguns).

He was born John Dean Cooper on May 10, 1920. He earned a master's degree in history and taught history. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, Southeast Asia and Korea. He separated from the service as a lieutenant colonel and most who knew him called him "The Colonel."

In the course of his military combat experience and shooting contests he organized in Big Bear, Calif., in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he developed the "modern technique" of using a handgun for personal protection.

In 1976, he founded the American Pistol Institute or Gunsite, near Paulden in 1976. Since then, nearly 18,000 people have received training there in how to use handguns, rifles and shotguns to protect their lives and the lives of others.

The students have included celebrities such as Tom Selleck, but most have been in the military, bodyguards for heads of state, law enforcement officers and many civilians who took responsibility for their own protection. Since the War on Terror began, the number of military students has increased.

Col. Cooper strictly enforced his four rules of gun safety and in his Internet essays, "Cooper's Commentaries," he frequently reported on police shootings and other incidents in which people ignored the rules at theirs and others' peril:

• All guns are always loaded.

• Never let the muzzle point at anything you don't want to destroy.

• Never put your finger on the trigger until the sights are on your target.

•Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it.

Cooper was a prolific and lucid writer. Even people who are unfamiliar with guns but love good writing would do well to study his books, which include "The Art of the Rifle," "Another Country," Sports Car Annual," "Fireworks," "To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth," "C Stories" and "Gunsite Gossip," Volumes I and II, as well as the many articles he wrote as editor at large for Guns & Ammo Magazine.

He was the recipient of the 1995 American Handgunner Award and St. Gabriel Possenti Society Award. St. Gabriel is the patron saint of shooters.

He held himself to high moral standards and demanded the same of others. He could and would defend articulately his strong views on life, liberty and honor and did not suffer lightly fools who couldn't do likewise.

His motto and frequent salutation/admonition to other shooters was "DVC" ¬ Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas ¬ Accuracy, Power and Speed.

As noted, most Americans don't know what a treasure we have lost, but a Louisiana police officer may have said it best recently on an Internet discussion of the colonel's final illness:

"He is perhaps the only man I've ever met more arrogant than I am. But unlike me, he rates to be arrogant. No matter who you are or what you've done with a big bore handgun, you do it better because that man lived."

[Ara]

Col. Jeff Cooper passed away yesterday. There is a small announcement on USPSA.org.

Whether you agreed with him or not, he is the reason we are all on this forum today so we owe him, and his supporting wife, alot.

Ara