Tyler C. Cooper, MD, MPH

Preventive medicine physician Tyler C. Cooper, MD, MPH, passed away on October 21, 2026, after a nine-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 55.

As president and chief executive officer, Dr. Tyler Cooper oversaw Cooper Aerobics’ six diverse health and wellness companies, including Cooper Clinic where he was also a practicing preventive medicine physician.

Dr. Tyler Cooper grew up at the renowned Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, which was founded by his father, Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH, just eight days before Dr. Tyler Cooper was born. Since childhood, engaging in health and wellness activities was always part of his life. He was running as soon as he started walking and learned to snow ski at age two and water ski at age four. Running was a family affair; the Coopers frequently ran three miles together as a family after church on Sunday. Dr. Tyler Cooper attended St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he excelled at track as a four-time conference champion in track and cross-country and was a member of the Southeast U.S. Cross-Country 2nd Team.

Dr. Tyler Cooper was awarded a track scholarship to Baylor University, where he was All-Conference, Conference Champion and Team Captain in both track and cross-country as well as a member of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI). He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University in 1994. Prior to attending medical school, he worked abroad and in business development for Cooper Aerobics for several years. Dr. Tyler Cooper received a Doctor of Medicine from The University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio in 2003 and a Master of Public Health in Health Care Management from Harvard School of Public Health in 2005. He completed his internship in Family Practice at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, Virginia, and his preventive medicine residency at University of South Carolina.

Working with Cooper’s corporate wellness arm since 1995, Dr. Tyler Cooper helped design the Cooper Ventures entity—now Cooper Wellness Strategies—to provide corporate consulting health and wellness services. He began serving as a practicing preventive medicine physician at Cooper Clinic in 2006, in addition to serving as Vice President of Business Development. The following year, Start Strong, Finish Strong, his book co-authored with his father, Dr. Kenneth Cooper, was released in September 2007. In 2008, Dr. Tyler Cooper was named CEO of Cooper Aerobics Enterprises, overseeing Cooper Fitness Center, Cooper Wellness Strategies, Cooper Spa and Cooper Hotel & Conference Center. He spearheaded numerous milestones for the Cooper organization, including multi-million-dollar renovations of Cooper Clinic, Cooper Fitness Center and Cooper Hotel. With the 40th anniversary celebration of Cooper Aerobics in 2010, he recognized this as an opportunity to re-brand the organization and position it for continued growth. He led the effort for the company to “Cooperize the world,” launching a new tagline to “Get Cooperized™,” an updated logo and new visual architecture for the company in 2011.

Named as President and CEO of Cooper Aerobics in 2014, Dr. Tyler Cooper continued to promote the Cooper brand as a trustworthy source of health, wellness and fitness across the globe focused on improving the quality and quantity of people’s lives. He established ties with China through the creation of Cooper Aerobics Greater China, opening the Cooper Aerobics Health and Wellness facility in Nanjing, China, in 2017. In addition, he focused on making fitness measurements a vital sign of health in the primary care setting through the CooperFit™ test.

A compassionate leader and physician, Dr. Tyler Cooper believed in meeting people where they were, giving grace to help them improve their health and live longer, more productive lives. He was committed to improving public health, health care and education, making a meaningful, lasting impact through his service on boards and advisory councils. Most recently he served on the Baylor University Board of Regents.

His love and passion for the outdoors and extreme adventures resulted in mountain climbing on all seven continents and summiting all 74 14,000-ft. mountains in the contiguous U.S., a goal of his to complete by age 50. Indeed, Tyler made it happen in his 50th year, as he summited Mount Langley in California in July 2021, surrounded by his family and friends. He enjoyed back country snow skiing, diving and surfing throughout the world, describing his favorite vacation destinations as anything he could surf, ski or climb. You could find him most Thursdays on Lake Lewisville, where he’d take family and friends to wake surf on his boat.

Dr. Tyler Cooper was a proud father. He is survived by the love of his life, his wife of 24 years, Angie Cooper, and their three children, Clark, Lang and Kai Cooper.

Dr. Tyler Cooper was of strong Christian faith and an active member of the Park Cities Baptist Church for many years.