He was remarkable for his ability to work in the golf industry into his nineties. When Cooper died, he was the longest-serving member of the PGA of America. Starting in the 1950s, Cooper became the director of golf for Home Lines, sailing first on their ship the Homeric and later the Oceanic. They sailed between New York City and the Caribbean Sea each year from the Christmas season through to the spring when he would return to his club. Aboard ship he taught golf and ran daily golf clinics for the passengers and when they reached the islands he arranged golf on shore for the passengers. Cooper is often classified as the greatest golfer who never won a major tournament, with 30 career wins. Some claim this classification is erroneous because Cooper won the 1934 Western Open, which many considered one of golf's major championships at that time. Although in its early decades the Western Open was widely regarded as a major championship, this designation was unofficial and it is generally not included in tallies of golfers' major championship wins. Other male professional golfer who have had a comparable record of repeated success at the major championships without yet winning one are Colin Montgomerie, Doug Sanders, Macdonald Smith, and Lee Westwood. Death and legacy Cooper had no children and died in a hospital in White Plains, New York in 2000. He and his wife Emma (who died in 2002) are interred in Lot 15, Graves 1 and 2, in the Kensico Gardens Section of the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. His grave is now marked with a headstone, but his grave marker erroneously shows 1906 instead of 1904 as his birth year. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992. Professional wins (36) PGA Tour wins (30) 1923 (1) Galveston Open Championship 1926 (2) Los Angeles Open, Monterey Peninsula Championship 1927 (1) Pebble Beach Open 1929 (2) Shawnee Open, Old Westbury Invitational 1930 (3) St. Paul Open, Medinah C.C. Invitational, Salt Lake Open 1931 (2) Tri-State Open, Pasadena Open 1932 (1) Canadian Open 1933 (1) Arizona Open 1934 (2) Western Open, Illinois Open 1935 (3) Medinah Open, Illinois Open, St. Paul Open 1936 (2) Florida West Coast Open, St. Paul Open 1937 (7) Los Angeles Open, Houston Open, St. Petersburg Open, True Temper Open, Canadian Open, Inverness Invitational Four-Ball (with Horton Smith), Oklahoma Four-Ball (with