Malcolm McGregor Cooper

Malcolm McGregor Cooper FRSE BLitt (17 August 1910 – 1 September 1989) was a New-Zealand-born agriculturalist and author. He was President of the British Grassland Society and President of the British Society of Animal Production. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations described him as a giant of agriculture.[1]

Cooper in 1934

Life

He was born on Havelock Farm (North) in rural New Zealand on 17 August 1910, the son of Laurence T. Cooper, a farmer. He attended school in Napier, New Zealand and then the University of New Zealand graduating a Bachelor in Agricultural Science in 1933. He then won a place at Oxford University and obtained a Diploma in Rural Economy in 1935 and Bachelor of Literature in 1937.[2] He married Hilary Margaret Cecilia Matthews in 1937.

During the Second World War Cooper served in the New Zealand Army (ANZAC) in North Africa and Italy rising to the rank of Major. After the war he decided to stay in Britain to work. From 1947 to 1954 he was Professor of Agriculture at London University. From 1954 until retiral in 1972 he was Dean of Agriculture and Professor of Rural Economy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Cooper was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1956, his proposers including David Cuthbertson, H. Cecil Pawson and Meirion Thomas.[2]

Cooper died on 1 September 1989.

Publications
  • Profitable Sheep Farming (reprinted 1996)
  • Profitable Beef Production (1984)
  • Grass Farming (1973 reprinted 1979)

References
  1. Dalton C. (1989) A giant of agriculture (obituary to Professor Malcolm McGregor Cooper). Ministry for Primary Industries
  2. Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002. royalsoced.org.uk
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