Born in New York City to Finnish parents,[1] he lived with them in a housing cooperative in a Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx.

In 1958-59, he and his family moved for him to study anthropology at the London School of Economics, where he matriculated with honors.

[1] At that point, he married a Boston-born student from the nearby Yellow Springs campus of Antioch College whom he met while folk dancing).

They moved to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1952, homesteading 160 acres on Chena Ridge and raising five children.

In 1982, Koponen defeated Ken Fanning, one of the country's only Libertarian legislators taking approximately 61% of the vote.

"[citation needed] Koponen died at the Pioneer's Home in Fairbanks on December 3, 2013,[1][6] and a memorial was held January 5, 2014.