Cooper the cat dies after being hit by car

By Jason Emerson

Editor

To many people in Cazenovia, Cooper, the gray tiger cat that roamed the village, followed pedestrians and loved to visit Cazenovia College students — even inside dorms and classrooms — was more than just the mayor’s cat. He was the community’s cat.

Sadly, Cooper, age 6, passed away last week after being hit by a car.

“Hew died May 31 while out for his evening walk — following some of his beloved Cazenovia residents as they walked home and didn’t look both ways crossing street,” said Mayor Kurt Wheeler, whose daughters found Cooper in 2011 wandering the village as a kitten and rescued him.

Cooper was not only the community’s cat, he was also lovingly referred to by students as Cazenovia College’s unofficial mascot.

“The campus community lost a special friend today. Cooper will be greatly missed by our students, staff, faculty and community,” Cazenovia College posted on its Facebook page on June 1. “Over the summer, we will be discussing ways to memorialize Cooper and will post about how you can be involved. For now, please feel free to share your photos and memories of our special friend.”

There were 40 comments made to the post and a few photos posted.

“I am so gonna miss cooper, I absolutely loved that cat,” commented Lorie Wood. “He came to visit me often in Farber as I gave him breakfast and treats time to time, it won’t be the same without him. I enjoyed watching him with students like he was walking them to class. Then stalking chimpmunks. You were a funny cat cooper I’ll miss you buddy!”

Annette Thompson Geers commented, “My daughter loved Cooper so much during her years at Caz. When she worked in the library he kept her company. Campus just won’t be the same without him.”

Former and current Cazenovia College students have also posted comments on their own Facebook pages, using the #cooperthecat hashtag.

“I am deeply saddened to hear that Cooper the cat, aka Cazenovia College’s unofficial mascot, passed away this morning after a run-in with a car,” posted Cazenovia College alum Danielle LaRose. “As a recent Cazenovia alum I am thankful that I got to spend four years enjoying Cooper’s presence on campus. He was fiesty but loving and made our campus better. He will be greatly missed.”

“Today is a very sad day,” Christina Buckingham posted on June 1. “Cooper, you were the king of this campus and it’ll never be the same without you. Rest In Peace buddy.”