Baking & Snack - February 2023 - 22

BAKING HALL OF FAME
the Advocate
Politically savvy Fred Cooper helped give Main Street bakers
a strong, pro-business voice in the nation's capital.
by Dan Malovany
T
Throughout the past 50 years, Frederick E. (Fred)
Cooper served almost too many roles to count from attorney,
adviser and facilitator to consolidator, lobbyist,
philanthropist and, of course, consummate Southern
gentleman. But perhaps the biggest influence by the astute,
politically minded businessman came as a champion
for the baking industry and a leading advocate in
Washington, D.C., against a formidable list of laws and
federal regulations that continue to impact the bottom
lines of bakeries throughout the country. Such leadership
has earned him a spot in the American Society of
Baking's Baking Hall of Fame.
As an active member of the American
Bakers Association (ABA), he served
as chairman of BreadPAC, the
ABA's political action committee,
where he restructured and
strengthened fundraising and
lobbying effectiveness by
encouraging bakers to get
politically involved in
shaping how the laws
and regulations affect
the industry. He also
served as ABA chairman
and as an officer with
the Independent Bakers
Association and Quality
Bakers of America.
A 1967 graduate of
University of Georgia
law school who
served as a judge
advocate
and
captain in the US
Army, Mr. Cooper
spent 17 years at
22 Baking & Snack February 2023 / www.bakingbusiness.com
Flowers Industries (now Flowers Foods), starting as
the company's first general counsel in 1973 and later as
executive vice president, president and vice chairman.
When it came to consolidation, he was the grandmaster
at the art of negotiating. During his tenure at Flowers,
he was responsible for closing dozens of acquisitions as
the Thomasville, Ga.-based company's annual sales rose
from around $50 million to $1 billion.
In a letter before he passed away in 2022, lifelong
friend Amos McMullian, former chairman and chief executive
officer of Flowers Foods and 2019 Baking Hall of
Fame inductee, described how the two shared a kindred
spirit in the belief of personal and corporate citizenship,
prioritizing involvement in the political process to support
free enterprise and individual freedom. He added
Mr. Cooper's " standard for honesty and integrity, respect
and inclusion " remains a cornerstone of Flowers'
philosophy.
After leaving Flowers to form CooperSmith bakeries
in 1990, Mr. Cooper maintained his role as a consolidator.
He made several acquisitions to create a $350
million, regional bakery powerhouse before selling
it to Earthgrains (now part of Bimbo Bakeries USA,
Horsham, Pa.) in 1998.
In a published report, Mr. Cooper attributed the
sale of many family bakeries to the growth of regional
and national grocery and foodservice chains along
with a plethora of expensive regulations imposed on
small companies.
His wide-ranging accomplishments in the political
arena included being a long-term chairman of
the Republican Party in Georgia and supporter and
adviser to presidents George H.W. Bush and later
George W. Bush. His charitable contributions range
from the United Way to the American Cancer Society
to saving African elephants and forming the Cooper
Family Foundation.
Illustrations by Brent Engstrom
http://www.bakingbusiness.com
Baking & Snack - February 2023

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