In January, Robert Cooper (pictured above), co-director of CPR Insurance Services, died from leukaemia. Last week, Cooper’s family held a fundraising lunch in Robert’s honour at the Prince Consort Hotel in Brisbane - 137 people attended and raised $27,000 for the Leukaemia Foundation.
“It was an emotional day but a happy day because Rob always wanted to give back,” said Mandy Cooper, Robert’s wife and business partner, who continues to run their family brokerage.
The motivating idea behind the fundraiser: “We can’t change what we’ve been through, but we can change it for others,” said Mandy. “It was a good part of the healing process too for me, the kids and the family.”
The money raised can fund six months of leukaemia research.
“Six months’ research for a PhD student to investigate blood cancer and it will also provide three months’ worth of accommodation for a family that has to relocate from a regional area to the city for treatment,” said Mandy.
The timing of the lunch was advantageous.
“I set it up to be the Tuesday before UAC [Underwriting Agencies Council Expo] in Brisbane, which meant that a lot of underwriters who we deal with would be in town,” said Mandy.
Mandy’s son and daughter were heavily involved in their father’s lunch. Son John played in the band along with family friends, including Darren Trott. Daughter, Jaslyn, who is part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mob at St James College (Mandy’s grandmother was part of the stolen generation) performed an Acknowledgement of Country with a dance.
“So we all played a part in the day and we were there to celebrate his life and to raise valuable funds for the next generation,” said Mandy.
The money raised came from donations, a raffle and an auction held on the day. Among the donated items up for sale, Australia’s most famous wine.
“We had a 1997 bottle of Grange that was delivered to my house the night before the event by a friend,” said Mandy.
There was also a second bottle of Grange from the 2016 vintage, an e-bike and a Dolphins rugby league jersey signed by the coach Wayne Bennett
“That [the football jersey] went for $3,000 and we should have kept it going because I have heard that they got a bargain,” said Mandy. “Donations just rolled in the door during the day, which was wonderful.”
She said it was also wonderful to see friends, family and the insurance community come together and “just pay it forward”.
“You know, Rob was always wanting to educate and pay it forward in our industry,” said Mandy. “So now they’re paying it back!”
In an earlier interview with Insurance Business, Mandy said her husband was never shy about supporting clients.
“Robert was passionate about always acting in the client’s best interests,” she said. They always saw their work, she said, as both local broker and part of the community.
“We always found it satisfying to help our local business owners at claim time,” Mandy said. “Heaven help an underwriter who did not read their policy wording on a claim, because Robert loved to take them on to act in our client’s best interests!”
Claims time, she said, is when Robert believed a broker shows their “true worth to the client”. She said her husband was also “passionate” about giving back.
“He would always take time to help fellow brokers or underwriters,” Mandy said. “He believed education was the key to our industry’s future.” Robert, she said, really enjoyed his work as a National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) mentor. “It was hard for him to not always do his weekly catch-ups last year when he was sick; he felt like he was letting everyone down,” Mandy said.
“Giving back was in his DNA, as it is in mine, which is why we were perfect together.”
Did you attend Robert Cooper’s fundraising lunch? Tell us what you enjoyed most about the event below. What other causes would you like to see the industry fundraise for?
