Ethelbert “Bert” J.L. Cooper, passed away on May 22, 2026, following a prolonged illness.
Ethelbert Julius Llewellyn Cooper, Jr. was born unto the union of E.J. Llewellyn Cooper, Sr. and Isabel Eugenia Simpson Cooper on February 27th, 1954, at the Maternity Center Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia.
Bert was raised in the knowledge and nurture of the Lord by his parents, and he was confirmed at the Trinity Pro-Cathedral Church in Monrovia. For his elementary education, he attended the Monrovia Demonstration School, and the Methodist Elementary School, in Sinkor, Monrovia. Bert enrolled at the College of West Africa (CWA) in Monrovia in 1965 as a 7th grader. He remained at CWA up until the 9th grade, when in 1967 he matriculated for studies abroad at the Williston Academy in Easthampton, Massachusetts, USA.
Bert graduated high school from Williston in 1970 and was accepted into Yale University at New Haven, Connecticut for his college education. At Yale, he was a member of Silliman Residential College, and he also was a member of the Society of Book and Snake.
Bert completed his coursework for a BA in Economics and graduated from Yale in 1974. It is noteworthy to state that Bert completed his degree in 3 and half years and immediately returned home to Liberia in December 1973 to commence his professional career. He was so committed to his career, that he saw the formality of the graduation exercises in May 1974 as something he could skip and remained at work in Liberia.
Bert was recruited by the Liberian government out of college to help establish a new public corporation, The Liberia Development Corporation (LDC). He was appointed to the role of Assistant Managing Director, a position in which he served from 1974-1975. In 1975, he was hired to be the Special Assistant to the Minister of Labor, Youth and Sports. He was later promoted to become the Assistant Minister for Administration, the principal operating official of the Ministry.
Bert married Caroline Bendu Smythe on December 1st, 1977, and from this union they had three daughters Michele Bendu, Tanya Diane and Natasha Elena.
Bert decided to leave government and to go into the private sector in 1977, whereupon he embarked on a very successful career as a businessman. He either founded, was instrumental in establishing, or was the principal Liberian shareholder at Uiterwyk Shipping Lines, West African Shipping Lines, West Africa Timber Lines, Xerox Liberia, and Africa Investment Company (“AFINCO”).
Bert became a leading expert straddling the intersection of government and the international private sector in Liberia’s iron ore industry. This had its roots when he was appointed as adviser to the Liberian Minister of Finance, in the Minister’s role as a Chairman of the LAMCO Joint Venture (“LJV”), the country’s largest iron ore project. The LJV was created in the 1960s under a partnership between prominent Swedish interests, America’s second-ranking steel producer, Bethlehem Steel and the host government. When established in the 1960s, the LJV was Africa’s largest foreign investment project (equivalent value in today’s terms, in excess of US$4 billion). Bert’s activities as the Chairman’s adviser put him into regular contact with the LJV’s Swedish and American owners and nurtured on his part an in-depth knowledge of the global seaborne iron ore sector, and its impact on, and future growth potential for Liberia.
After the violent military coup that destabilized the nation of Liberia in 1980, Bert moved his family to Reston, Virginia in the USA, and after arriving as political refugees, proceeded to start his business activities from scratch. Harking back to his unique expertise in the Liberian iron ore sector, Bert formed a US company, ICB (America) Inc. in McLean, VA which worked closely with senior management of the then Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, PA and in 1984 organized the friendly transfer of Bethlehem’s interest in the LAMCO JV iron ore mining project to a new vehicle company owned by the Government of Liberia (named “Liminco”), and in overseeing the subsequent management of this LJV component company.
In 1986, Bert moved his primary personal residence to London, UK, since the business facilities in Europe were more conducive to Bert’s career-long focus on African natural resources projects. However, throughout most of the intervening period, he maintained part-time residences in the US, either in Northern Virginia or in New York City.
In 1988-89, Bert proceeded to organize the transfer of the last remaining foreign interest in the LJV (Granges Mining/Electrolux AB of Sweden) to Liminco, putting the full management and ownership of the project under local Liberian control. In the era of Liminco ownership, Bert oversaw the arrangement of the company’s financial and ore-marketing activities. Post transfer, he was responsible for full management of the entire LJV asset (8mtpa), and its work force of 3,000 people (ore mining, processing, transportation, marketing, and overall project administration and relationships with suppliers).
Bert was a veteran entrepreneur in the international natural resources sector, but he was also an important sponsor of academic, artistic and social endeavors relating to the African continent.
His skills in project development and his equally broad capital markets experience provided a unique combination of expertise for his preferred African focus. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Bert played the central role in the reorganization of the iron ore sector of his country of birth, Liberia. More recently, he has planned and implemented large-scale iron ore initiatives in Liberia, Cameroon, and Guinea.
In the oil & gas sector, during the early 2000s, Bert founded a London Stock Exchange (LSE) listed petroleum company that attained a market value of nearly US$3 billion and was active in twelve countries. He also led and brought to fruition Europe’s pioneering LNG (gas)-to electric power project.
His strong engagement, reputation and accomplishments in the oil and gas and iron ore sectors of West and Central Africa will be longstanding.
With over 35 years of experience in the African natural resources sector, Bert was involved in a wide range of other highly successful ventures, including present innovative new African international bond-placement and oil and LNG projects. During the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, he devised initiatives that proactively sought to counter the relevant economic and social dislocations.
Bert was a generous supporter of several institutions both within Liberia and internationally. In Liberia he has supported the Episcopal Church of Liberia, specifically the Trinity Cathedral Church in Monrovia (his home church in Liberia), where he donated a church organ in memory of his family. In 2013, Bert fully paid for the purchase and installation of a new main organ at the Trinity Cathedral in Monrovia, Liberia. He also supported the Episcopal Church’ Bromley School for Girls in Virginia, Liberia, by establishing a Computer Science Laboratory and providing other financial assistance in the memory of his mother – who both attended and taught at the school.
As a graduate and distinguished alumnus of Yale University, Bert was the founding donor of Yale’s first scholarship program for African students, and he was a member of the Yale President’s Council on International Activities.
At Harvard University, Bert was the founding sponsor of a Gallery of African & African American Art on the university’s campus, an advisory board member of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, and a recipient of Harvard’s prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois medal for outstanding work in the field of African and African American Studies.
Bert was also a Patron of the Awareness Foundation, an international peace-building charity in the United Kingdom, alongside its Chief Patron, HRH, the Duchess of Wessex.
Bert was a family treasure, a precious son, devoted husband, loving father, amazing brother, supportive uncle, faithful family man, and generous friend. We are grateful for the time we had with this incredible man, our family champion!
Bert’s memory will always be a blessing. He was an outstanding leader, visionary, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who touched many lives with his compassion and generosity. He was preceded in death by his parents, E.J. Llewellyn Cooper Sr. and Isabel Simpson Cooper Norris, his Aunt Eupheme Weeks (Rocheforte), Aunt Cynthia Kamara (Samba), and his sister Emma Gloria Cooper Holder. He is survived by his wife, Caroline Bendu, daughters, Michele Cooper Elisio (Nico), Tanya Cooper Mathieu, Natasha Cooper Rio D’Oria (Luca), grandchildren Caricie Mathieu, Lemuel Mathieu, and Roman Rio D’Oria; his siblings, Patience Cooper Saines (Terry), Joy Cooper Burnette (Emmette), Juliet Cooper Allen (Hank), Daubeny B. Cooper III (Anita), Angelique Cooper McGlotten (Kyle), Isabel Cooper Mendy (Pierre), Aunt Trypetus Padmore, Uncle Gerald Cooper (Roberta), Uncle Randolph Cooper (Eudeen), Uncle Seward Cooper (Anne), and a host of nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, and many, many cousins.
In London, Bert and his family worship at Holy Trinity Church in Sloane Square.
We will surely miss Bert, but we take heart because we believe the scripture that says, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” ( 2 Corinthians 5:8). He can now rejoice in the presence of our heavenly Father with the family who has gone before.
“Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same; but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again!”
(Ron Tranmer)
