[1][2] In 1964, he became a reporter at The Harrisburg Patriot; he was later a correspondent for Time and from 1967 to 1976 was an editor and cultural critic at Newsweek, then from 1976 to 1978 edited Penthouse.
In 1978, he became editor of Family Weekly, and then in 1983, of GQ,[1][2][3][4] where his first cover featured Joe Theismann.
[2] Under him GQ was the first of a new wave of men's lifestyle magazines, and Cooper himself became a fashion leader.
[5] He was married to Amy Levin Cooper, who became editor of Mademoiselle;[1][4] Condé Nast, the publisher of their two magazines, had previously had a policy against nepotism.
[2] In June 2003, shortly after his retirement, he suffered a stroke at The Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan while lunching with David Zinczenko, the editor of Men's Health, and died four days later at age 65 at New York Hospital.