Leon Cooper, October 16, 2015

Leon Cooper, October 16, 2015

Leon Cooper was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1927 and came to Lexington with his wife, Harriet, and two of his three children during the mid-twentieth century (the third was born in Lexington). He came to Lexington after serving in the Navy on two separate occasions. His enlistment came as a response to the dangers confronting Jewish people around the world and his desire to take part in the fight in WWII. He talks about the changes in his Jewish identity in the Navy and the community he felt with the other servicemen. After the Navy, he moved to Lexington to work for IBM. Cooper was one of the first engineers on the mag tapes electric typewriter—an innovation that opened the door to modern day word processing. The discussion of his career with IBM and with QED Medical—a medical technology company he created after retiring from IBM—leads into the discussion of his experiences in the Lexington Jewish community. He talks about his and his family’s move into the community, Ohavay Zion Synagogue, and their quick involvement with leadership roles and community events. His uplifting stories of community events such as the Yom Kippur Ball convey the unity everyone felt in this Jewish community. Personal encounters with anti-Semitism and negative race relations ground his stories in the reality of the time. In this interview with Janice Fernheimer, Cooper describes his life through the context of Jewish identity and belonging to a community.

Genealogy

Discrimination

United States. Navy.

United States. Navy--Military life

World War, 1939-1945--Veterans.

Engineering

Education

Technological innovations

International Business Machines Corporation.

Lexington (Ky.)

Small business--Kentucky

Small business--Ownership

Jewish businesspeople

Religion

Jews--Kentucky--Lexington.

Jews--Identity.

Jewish leadership--Kentucky--Lexington

video

2015oh434_jk010

Janice W. Fernheimer

Leon Cooper

Race relations--United States

Race discrimination

Emigration and immigration.

African Americans--Relations with Jews.

Childhood

Racism

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Hospitals--Kentucky--Lexington

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.