Martin M. Cooper, who founded Cooper Communications Inc. in Woodland Hills, Calif. in 1982, was chosen as the Public Relations Practitioner of the Year at the Public Relations Society of America's 1996 PRISM awards recognition ceremony held Oct. 30 in Los Angeles.
Cooper, a graduate of UCLA, was acknowledged for the work he has done for corporate, governmental, health care and non-profit clients as well as his professional achievements with former employers, Playboy Enterprises Inc. [PLA/], Harshe-Rotman & Druck Public Relations Inc., the Recreation Division of Universal City Studios and Disneyland.
In addition to those professional accomplishments, Cooper has received two Gold Key awards from Public Relations News; authored a book on the Academy Awards; has been a contributing writer for several books on marketing management; and has contributed morethan 50 articles to differing publications.
Cooper also served as president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America in 1990, and president of the Encino Chamber of Commerce in 1991 and remains on both boards today.
In 1994, Cooper's firm was honored as 1994's Small Business of the Year by the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley.