Sheldon J. Cooper

Sheldon James Cooper, age 57 , passed away on November 14, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at Cherry Meadows Hospice. He had been living with ALS since February, 2019. Sheldon was born on October 5, 1967 to Elaine and Jim Cooper in Hettinger, ND.

Sheldon spent most of his childhood living in Bison, South Dakota. Sheldon and his siblings were raised by their mother and he always credited his mom’s hard work and devotion to her kids as a guide that shaped his work ethic and served as an example for how he helped raise his own children. Of course his other guide for raising children was his loving wife, Jaci. As a very young child, he loved cowboys. In fact, throughout his life, one of his favorite television shows was the western, Gunsmoke. Growing up, he loved sports, the outdoors, and school. He loved school so much, he never left. 

Sheldon received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Northern State University (Aberdeen, SD) in 1990. While at Northern, several of his biology classes had excellent field work components. He continued to do field work integrated with lab research throughout his career. He received his master’s degree in Biology from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion in 1992. His Master’s degree advisor got him interested in studying how small, nonmigratory birds can survive harsh winter conditions. He graduated from Utah State University in 1998 with a Ph.D. in Biology. Sheldon then went to St. Lawrence University in upstate New York for a one year visiting lecturer position. His first tenure-track faculty position was at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point from 1998 to 2001. In 2001, he joined the faculty at UW Oshkosh as an animal physiologist. This was an outstanding career choice. Since then, he taught human and animal physiology, as well as field ornithology. He was also active in science outreach, giving presentations on birds to elementary students throughout Oshkosh. Dr. Cooper’s passion is birds. He has studied more than a dozen species of birds throughout his career at UWO. The species he studied most were chickadees and titmice. They were the subject of both his Master’s degree and Ph.D. research. He continued to publish on chickadee cold hardiness at UW Oshkosh. He served as Co-Chair of the Biology department from 2009 until his retirement in 2023.

His family were his pride and joy. He married his wife Jaci (Seville) Cooper on July 11, 1992 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. They have two sons, Payton and Braden. Sheldon and Jaci enjoyed camping, hiking, canoeing and traveling with their boys. He greatly enjoyed coaching his boys in a variety of sports throughout the years. His love of sports carried over in the family vacation destinations as trips to different major league ballparks and other sports venues. Luckily for him, Jaci loved sports as well so these vacations were enjoyed by the whole family. He also loved and supported his children’s musical and theater activities. 

Sheldon is survived by his loving wife of 32 years, Jaci (Seville) Cooper; son Payton Cooper of Cudahy, Wisconsin; son, Braden Cooper of Cudahy, Wisconsin; he is further survived by his sister Melissa Cooper of Sioux Falls, SD; sister Beth (Omar) Sutherland of Greenville, NC; brother Stuart Cooper of Eau Claire, WI; nephews Brent Cooper of Greenville, NC; Grant Tiger of Greenville, NC; and Shaun Cooper of Chippewa Falls, WI. He was preceded in death by his parents, Elaine Cooper and Jim Cooper. 

A Visitation and Celebration of Life Service will be held by the family at Konrad-Behlman Funeral home, 100 Lake Pointe Drive in Oshkosh, WI on Friday, November 22, 2024. Visitation will be from 2:00-4:00 p.m. with service, fellowship and meal following. The family would also like to invite you to join us in the party room of Sheldon’s favorite pizza place, West End Pizza on Saturday, November 23 any time from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

As a field biologist, Sheldon rarely wore a shirt and tie anywhere. Please feel free to dress comfortably. He wants you all to know: “I was lucky to have good friends, good siblings, good nephews, and a wife and two sons for always supporting me.”

The family wishes to thank Senior Stride Homecare, ThedaCare Hospice and Cherry Meadows Hospice for their loving guidance, support and care of Sheldon and his family during the difficult battle with ALS.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Sheldon Cooper Biology Scholarship at UW Oshkosh or Wisconsin ALS Association.