Eric Cooper's father must have died young for Eric and his brother were brought up in Hawthorn, Victoria, by their mother. Eric was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne, where he excelled in the science subjects, gaining first-class honours in physics, chemistry and biology in his last year. He was awarded a government scholarship and proceeded to Melbourne University to study medicine in 1920. He graduated with honours in 1925, and was appointed resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, later registrar 1927-28, and medical superintendent 1929-32. He obtained his MD degree in 1927.

After a short period overseas he returned to Melbourne as assistant pathologist at his old hospital, and became acting physician to outpatients. In 1935 he was appointed honorary physician at St Vincent's Hospital. He was also Stewart Lecturer in pathology in the University of Melbourne, and resident tutor in Ormond College 1933, where his encyclopaedic knowledge of his subject, and friendly nature won the gratitude and acclaim of the undergraduate and postgraduate students. Eric was elected FRACP in 1938 at the foundation of the College.

He read widely and had a retentive memory, having a fairly extensive library in his study at Ormond. At the same time he was a man of vision and foresight. As superintendent of the Melbourne Hospital 1929-33 when blood transfusion was in its infancy, he proposed the need of a `blood bank', arranging for a `bank' of volunteer donors whose blood group was known and who could be called on in an emergency to donate blood to be transfused by the methods then available. Later developments by Marriott and Kekwick in the United Kingdom, and by Drs Ian Wood and Lucy Bryce on the storage of blood, led to the efficient and effective blood bank now operated by the Red Cross.

In 1938 Eric, who had been very active in the Militia Army Medical Corps, was staff officer to Major General Rupert Downes, DGMS. In the course of his reading, he had come across a report by a Brazilian professor, of his use of microfilm chest x-rays, and saw its potential usefulness in mass chest surveys of recruits. Dr Colin Macdonald describes this in a lecture to the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (see Journal and Proceedings 1965), as follows:

"Eric Cooper was a keen student of international literature, and, reading of the initial work in the microfield by Professor Manael de Abreau, the Brazilian tuberculosis physician, he persuaded Rupert Downes to adopt it in 1939, (and this was a great success) before its adoption in Britain or America."

In this he was associated with Dr John O'Sullivan (radiologist) and Dr CE Eddy of the Commonwealth X-ray Laboratory. Eric Cooper served with distinction in the AIF and was OC medical division of the 2/4 AGH in the beleaguered fortress of Tobruk. He described cases of relapsing fever with neurological complications, which became familiar not only in North Africa but also in Syria and Palestine. With Dr Alex Sinclair he organised the care of the shell-shocked patients in the embattled area.

He returned to Australia from the Middle East with the 6th and 7th Divisions, when the Japanese were threatening in the near north, and set about organising a hospital in Adelaide. He died on 1 May 1942 of septicaemia following a tooth extraction. Thus ended a short but eventful life, full of promise and already showing qualities of an outstanding physician and leader of men. Eric was of friendly disposition and enjoyed the confidence of his colleagues. He was a great reader, with an enquiring mind and clear vision.