J. Francis Cooper

Frank Cooper was born in 1898 in Alabama. He received a bachelor's degree from Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn and a master's degree from the University of Florida.

He established the Florida Farm Hour radio program in 1928, one of the oldest continuously broadcast farm shows in the United States.

He served in the military during World War I, and later worked for a newspaper in Columbus, Georgia. He also worked for Progressive Farmer magazine before going to the University of Florida in 1925. Progressive Farmer named him Man of the Year in Service to Florida Agriculture in 1953.

He headed the editorial department at Florida from 1925 until he retired from the university in 1961. In retirement, he continued to write for state and regional publications. In the 1970s, he compiled and edited "Dimensions in History," a history of the Florida extension service. He was inducted into the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1981 and continued to write until shortly before his death in October 1984. He was 86.