The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

January, 1951The Health Bulletinmore than once; but this may have beenat times of assistance to him in hiswork. Certainly he refused to listen tocoimsel of the faint of heart; there wasno contact between him and those whofeared the political effect of any movementfor bettering health conditions.But if he were resolute, none couldquestion his willingness to work in harness.His fellow workers all down theyears have sworn by him, and in hisentire public lifetime, which was one afew years shorter than the lifetime ofthe DaUy News, there has never to cm'knowledge been offered a printed wordof disparagement of Dr. Cooper by aresponsible citizen.Even when there was objection bydoctors of medicine to some his advancedsteps in caring for the health ofschool children the objectors soon subsidedand without daring to questionthe good faith of a really great physlciaiL—Greensboro Daily News, Dec. 20, 1950UNSELFISH SERVICEThe death of Dr. George M. Coopermarks the end of a career of a manwho served his fellow man, his Stateand his profession with imselfish devotionfor four decades.It would be difficult to overestimatethe value of Dr. Cooper's services. Asa young physician in Sampson Countyhe saw the need for carrying advancedmedical knowledge to all of the people.In his own practice he was the firstphysician in this State to use typhoidvaccine in North Carolina.He soon extended his practice to theentire State, joining the then youngState Health Department in 1915 andserving as Assistant State Health officerfrom 1923 until his death yesterday.Dr. Cooper's primary work was in thefields of maternal and child health. Nostate has made more progress in thoseimportant fields in the last 30 yearsthan has North Carolina. And for muchof that progress the State is indebted tothe tireless labor of this self-effacingman.Dr. Cooper's labors were by no meansconfined to maternal and child health.Those labors embraced the whole areaof public health and he has left hismark in that entire field.North Carolinians are grateful to thispioneer in public health work, who alwaysplaced the well being of the manyabove the good of the few.Raleigh News & ObserverWAS A HEALTH PIONEERDr. George M. Cooper, pioneer publichealth official and Assistant StateHealth officer in North Carolina sinceMarch 1, 1923, was in a very large measureresponsible for the fact that theNorth Carolina Health Departmentstood among the first in this Nation.Dr. Cooper was a native of SampsonCounty. He became interested in publichealth work and might well be creditedwith being first to realize the need formaking possible hospital and medicalfacilities for the rank and file of thepeople of this State.Dr. Cooper was said to be the firstphysician in North Carolina to use typhoidfever vaccine. Dr. Roy Norton,State Health Officer, paid deserved tributeto Dr. Cooper, who was not onlyhis assistant but assistant to his predecessorsand often served as ActingHealth Officer. Dr. Norton said of himthat he was North Carolina's "greatestpublic health official of all time."Only because of his affiiction withtotal deafness and his self sacrificing