Keith Cooper

Investment executive Keith Cooper was born on June 23, 1956 in Brooklyn, New York, New York to Marie Cooper and George Cooper. He attended New Castle School, Powells Lane School, Park Avenue School, and Westbury Junior High before he graduated from Westbury High School in Westbury, New York in 1974. He went on to earn his B.S. degree in electrical power systems engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979 and his M.B.A. degree in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1981.

While attending Northeastern University, Cooper worked in the nuclear engineering department of the Long Island Lighting Company for two years. He then was hired by the Chemical Bank in the gold trading department before joining Goldman Sachs in Chicago, Illinois, in 1981 At Goldman Sachs, Cooper worked in fixed income sales until 1995. He was the first African American at Goldman to sell corporate bonds and was also promoted to vice president. Cooper was hired as a director at Smith Barney in 1995. He opened a Deutsche Bank office in Chicago in 1997, serving as its director until 2004. Then, from 2004 to 2006, Cooper served as a director of Wells Fargo Bank, where he continued to work in fixed income sales. After leaving the business in 2006, Cooper co-founded Concord Family Services, a deathcare services company, where he also serves as executive vice president.

Cooper resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife, Rachelle H. Cooper. They have four adult children: Kyle Cooper, Danelle Williams, Jared Cooper, and Kara Cooper.

Keith Cooper was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 18, 2025.