Richard Cooper was born in 1934 in Wembley, the youngest of four children. When he was 8 his mother died from multiple sclerosis and, as the only sibling still at home, his father sent him to West Buckland just after the war in 1946. At first he was dreadfully homesick and missed his mother but he soon settled into Brereton House and remained at West Buckland for the rest of his school career until 1952.
 
Richard was extremely fond of West Buckland and kept strong links through the Old Boys Association. He was in regular contact with Phil Merry and Alan Ashby in particular. West Buckland was very much part of Richard and he regularly make the journey to Old Boys gatherings and dinners. He often shared his memories of the Exmoor Run and the pea soup afterwards and blamed West Buckland for his lifelong propensity to finish his food first in the scramble to get seconds!  During his time at school he was President of the Camera Club and a member of the Cadet Corp which stood him in good stead for his national service in Suez and Cyprus.

He went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant running his own practice up until his death. He married Joyce and moved to Buckinghamshire where they had a daughter, Lorna. Sadly, Joyce died in 1999. Richard then moved to St Albans and married Helen, and lived close to his daughter and three young grandchildren. He died peacefully in January 2014, aged 79, after a short battle with cancer. Shortly after he died his youngest granddaughter, Beatrice, summed him up:  "Good old grandpa...he was a good old chap".