Jim Memmott: Praising Sam Cooper for making the airport a welcoming place
The strangest thing happened last week. A debate broke out on the Democrat and Chronicle’s Facebook page and hundreds of people were suddenly up in the air about our airport’s name. Should it stay? Should it go? Should it include the name of a Rochester great?
At last count, there were 529 comments in the Facebook thread. Taken together they form a discussion that’s sometimes serious and sometimes sarcastic, too.
More: Airport thread on Facebook
Along the way, a mini-campaign of sorts emerges, a heartfelt argument that the airport building should contain the name of a man who loved the airport, a man who, for years was the face of the airport. More about that in a moment, but let’s start with some background;
“Why does it NEED to be renamed in the 1st place?” asked one commentator. “Who’s the Einstein suggesting that it should be renamed???”
“I believe the Einstein was some columnist a few weeks ago who couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to write about,” responded another commentator.
Ouch. I confess to being the Einstein who in June floated the possibility of naming the airport after a prominent Rochesterian.
Readers then weighed in, some for Frederick Douglass, some for Susan B. Anthony, some for George Eastman, and a lot for staying with Greater Rochester International Airport. I moved on.
And then the original column got reposted on the Democrat and Chronicle’s Facebook page on Oct. 15, fanning a fire that I thought had gone out.
More: Original column about the airport name
The new debate was the old debate writ large, though this time around a fair number of people suggested that their own names be put on the airport. (I know, it would be fun to fly in and out of your own name.)
What struck me the most was a groundswell of support for Samuel A. Cooper Jr., a Navy pilot during World War II who was the airport’s manager from 1973 to 1989, and who provided public relations services for the airport from 1992 to 2016.
His name was raised first by Dedee Rivera, who worked at the airport.
“Name it after Sam,” she suggested. “That airport was his life.”
Her words prompted a reply from David Gottfried who wrote, “I’ll never forget Sam taking me and my daughter’s Girl Scout troop on an airport tour a few years ago. He was great!”
And soon, Cooper’s granddaughter, Cathryn Cooper, joined the discussion. “I wanted to reach out and thank you for all your kind words about my grandfather,” she wrote. “He would absolutely be honored to have the place he loves so much be named after him.”
In a later email to me, Cathryn said that her grandfather, who turned 95 in August, is doing fine, though because he no longer drives he can’t visit the airport as often as he would like.
She added that he has lots of pictures of himself with the dignitaries who passed through the airport — Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, to name a few.
Welcoming people, famous and not-so-famous, was a task that Sam Cooper took to heart. In a sense, he was the area’s greeter. Girl Scouts, members of the military on leave, returning veterans on Honor Flights, the general public, all of them had contact with Cooper.
There’s a plaque dedicated to Samuel A. Cooper Jr. at the airport, a tribute to his 40 years of public service.
And now, there’s a string of tributes to him on Facebook, digital proof that doing your job, loving your job, makes a lasting difference. When it comes to the airport, Sam Cooper is still a name that counts.
On Remarkable Rochester
Retired Senior Editor Jim Memmott reflects on what makes Rochester distinctively Rochester, its history, its habits, its people. Contact him at: (585) 278-8012 or jmemmott@DemocratandChronicle.com or Remarkable Rochester, Box 274, Geneseo, NY, 14454.
Remarkable Rochesterians
Let’s add the name of this trailblazer who died in August to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that can be found at RocRoots.com:
Wyoma Best (1943-2017): In 1970, she became the first African-American woman to be elected to the board of the Rochester school district. A native of Virginia, in 1972, she became the first African-American woman to work as a television reporter in Rochester. At WHEC-TV for several years, she then became vice president for communications for the Greater Rochester Metro Chamber of Commerce. She was long active in community organizations, including the Urban League of Rochester and the Rochester Association of Black Journalists, which established a scholarship in her name in 2005.