Dr. Jeanne Cooper established this fund to create scholarships for students attending Waynesburg College and to benefit multiple medical and wildlife institutions throughout Pittsburgh and worldwide. This fund is in addition to a discretionary fund she established to support the greatest needs in the Pittsburgh community.
Jeanne Cooper was born in Pittsburgh in 1921. When her father, Lardin, died, their mother, Antoinette, raised. Jeanne and her brother, William, on her own.
Jeanne pursued a career in medicine, attending Waynesburg College and the University of Pittsburgh She worked in a munitions plant during World War II to help pay for medical school and received her degree from Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia in 1947.
After completing an internship and surgical training at Deaconess Hospital in Detroit and West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, Dr. Cooper, pursued private practice in family medicine. She met and married James T. Ault in Punxsutawney, Pa. In 1958, the couple went abroad when Ault was offered a position teaching Western building techniques in Tehran, Iran. Dr. Cooper taught at Tehran University School of Medicine.
After moving back to Pittsburgh, Dr. Cooper spent roughly the next 30 years at Mercy Hospital, including serving as vice chairman and later as chairman of the Pathology Department and laboratory director until her retirement in 1992 at age 72.
Dr. Cooper cared greatly about education, medicine and wildlife. Her generosity was recognized by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1999, who awarded her the Manifesting the Kingdom Award, an award given to members of the church who demonstrate exceptional service to their church and community.