Nancy Van Gulick Cooper, third from left, was a longtime supporter of Senior Services of Alexandria.
Nancy Van Gulick Cooper, a longtime Alexandria resident and community humanitarian, died Dec. 14, 2024, at her home in Oxford, Md., following a year-long battle with cancer.“Nancy was just a wonderful friend and devoted to doing good work in the community.”
— SSA executive director Mary Lee Anderson
Nancy Van Gulick Cooper, a longtime Alexandria resident and community humanitarian, died Dec. 14, 2024, at her home in Oxford, Md., following a year-long battle with cancer. She was 78.
Van Gulick Cooper was born March 15, 1946, to Millie and Hugo Phillips and raised in Baltimore. She graduated from George Washington University and lived abroad in France prior to settling in Alexandria. She worked for and with the Peace Corps and the American Red Cross before founding Seniors Living Well.
A devout Christian, Van Gulick Cooper became a member of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in 1985. She served there in many capacities, including as elder, teacher, mentor and choir member.
“Nancy was just a wonderful friend and devoted to doing good work in the community, said Senior Services of Alexandria executive director Mary Lee Anderson, who first met Van Gulick Copper through the Meeting House. “It still doesn’t seem real – she was so active and vibrant.”
In 2012, Van Gulick Cooper married Gerry Cooper, a fellow Meeting House congregant and longtime SSA board member. Together they dedicated many hours to serving the community through programs such as Meals on Wheels and supporting Friends of Guest House.
Van Gulick Cooper was a leader in the Rotary Club of Alexandria, committed to advancing Rotary’s international peace-building efforts. She established the Nancy and Gerry Cooper Water Projects Endowment to ensure funding for future water projects around the world.
“Nancy was as inspirational a character as I have ever met,” said Alexandria Rotary Club president Jim Carmalt. “Her legacy of service and unwavering dedication to our club and the Alexandria community have touched countless lives. Her contributions were too numerous to count, and her spirit of service above self will continue to inspire us all.”
Van Gulick Cooper was instrumental in starting Rotary’s regional Walk for Water, raising more than $30,000 last year even as she battled cancer. Carmalt noted that the walk has now been renamed the Nancy Van Gulick Walk for Water in her honor.
Van Gulick Cooper began working with the Fund for Alexandria’s Child in the 1970s and was an emergency placement foster mother and promoter of character education.
Music and singing were early passions for Van Gulick Cooper and she was a proud member of the Phoenix Choir of Baltimore during her high school years. She enjoyed traveling, entertaining, and spending time with family, particularly relishing her role as host for her family’s traditional Christmas cookie bake.
“She had one hell of a year fighting cancer, a fight which I'm glad is finished for her sake,” said her nephew Robert Phillips. “The pain of her loss was never going to be easy and though that Saturday I held her hand for the last time, she was at peace, surrounded by her family on the weekend she loved most – the Phillips Cookie Bake. She lived her life beautifully, and leaves behind a legacy of inspiring others to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.”
Van Gulick Cooper is survived by her husband Gerry Cooper; her brother Russ Phillips (Charlotte); her sister-in-law Carol Phillips; three nieces, Suzannah Baum, Katy Phillips, and Holly George; three nephews Hank Phillips, Robert Phillips, and Bay Phillips; five grandnieces and two grandnephews; and countless cousins including Debbie O’Neill, Carol Wallyn, and Suzie Mason. She was preceded in death by her brother Roger Phillips. She is also survived by the Cooper family: Steve Cooper (Donna) and Dan Cooper (Iris), and many Cooper grandchildren, especially Kaiya Cooper.
An interment service took place Jan. 4 at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Oxford. A Celebration of Life will be held Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, 321 South Fairfax Street, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, please consider supporting the Nancy and Gerry Cooper Water Projects Endowment [ID E21485]: The Rotary Foundation, 14280 Collections Center Drive, Chicago, IL 60693 USA.
“Nancy was a very special woman,” Anderson said. “She was such a force of nature and her loss is just immeasurable.”