Obituary: Maxwell Cooper
He joined the family-owned Adelaide Coopers brewery as a fourth generation member, having trained as a master brewer in England right after the second world war.
During his five decade long career as brewer and chairman (1990 – 2002),the brewery survived several economic downturns. Mr Cooper always proved resourceful. He launched Coopers homebrewing kits in the 1970s when no one else had thought of this. Today the kits form a sizeable chunk of Coopers business. What is more they paved they way for Coopers beer export business.
Admittedly, Mr Cooper’s diversifications into other food stuffs weren’t as successful. But at the time they seemed necessary to keep the brewery afloat and many were sold at a profit years later.
Although Mr Cooper ran Coopers Brewery together with his cousin Bill, he was only a shareholder. By the 4th generation, Coopers family shareholders had grown to quite a crowd. However, rather than investing his money in other perhaps more profitable ventures, he spent it on buying back Coopers’ shares if some cousin several times removed wanted out. That way he helped preserve the company’s independence, which proved vital when Coopers brewery faced a hostile USD 320 million takeover attempt from brewer Lion Nathan in 2005.
Mr Cooper was great company. He had wit, flair, an easy way with people. Once when we visited the former Coopers brewery in Leabrook, someone from packaging complained to him that his boat which he had parked in their warehouse was getting in their way. Mr Coopers just laughed and winked at me – probably thinking: “Young man, don’t get overexcited. I will tend to that eventually.”
When we first met he wore his black monster sunglasses and I thought he suffered from some eye condition. How mistaken I was. In the late 1990s Mr Cooper donned this Blues Brothers accessoire to promote the brewery’s black ale as the "dark side of the family." Which goes to show his subtle touch for marketing.
Mr Cooper was well known about Adelaide not only in the pubs which he visited regularly to keep in touch with people and see how business was going. He also sat on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Austereo, the Adelaide Bottle Company, MMI General Insurance (SA), the Queen Victoria Hospital, Business in the Community and the SA Council for the Ageing.
Then there were the luncheon clubs. These are wonderful old-time institution for business men and women who could afford to while away an afternoon in polite conversation. That’s where he truly proved himself a gentleman.
“He was tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he could recollect to whom he was speaking; he guarded against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he was seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He made light of favours while he did them, and seemed to be receiving when he was conferring.” These aren’t my words, but Cardinal Newman’s, a 19th century English cleric, and they seem like an apposite epitaph.
It is only fitting that the Coopers Brewery held a wake in Mr Cooper’s honour at the Rising Sun pub, one of his favourite drinking holes and any one wishing to attend could come along.
