Carry On: The Cooper Akin Legacy Project

Cooper Akin died peacefully on Friday morning, June 2, after a brief and excruciating battle with military service-connected head and neck cancer.

He was 35 years old.

Cooper met his cancer diagnosis as he met all challenges in his life: With single-minded determination, with unbelievable capacity and endurance, and with relentless support from those who loved him. His will to live was so incredibly strong.

To honor his life and spirit in the coming weeks and years, his family thought it would be most fitting to offer three different ways to support the future they would have had together.

Consider carrying on Cooper’s legacy

Details about all three are included below, should you wish to learn more.

Just before his diagnosis, Cooper made the difficult and brave decision to walk away from military life and begin anew. In the fall of 2022, he enrolled in the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Cooper was so excited for that next chapter because it meant the possibility of more time with his family. Cooper loved his family. He loved being a son, a brother, a best friend, and an uncle. And he especially loved being a partner and a dad. His long stretches of time overseas underscored the value of his time, which he gave generously to Jenny, Brayden, and Brienne. Whether plotting surprise dates for Jenny, tugging the kids on a sled, patiently teaching Brayden to throw a spiral or unhook a catfish (and later, to fry it up), studying Pokemon hierarchies, making sure to capture on video the unboxing of his care packages so Brayden could witness his unabashed enthusiasm and gratitude, or simply sitting in conversation, Cooper’s legacy as a family man is one of uncompromised attention, a willingness to play, and a commitment to passing on life’s many lessons. He was always looking for and leaning into teachable moments, in classrooms and in forests, in the kitchen or in the driveway.

To honor Cooper’s commitment to his family and his children’s futures, please consider making a donation to this campaign: All donations will be invested in an educational fund for Cooper’s children, Brayden Cooper Akin (7) and Brienne Eleanor Akin (2).

Throughout his life, Cooper was a true conservationist. As he grew from a bespectacled kid poring over Audubon manuals into an accomplished backwoods hunter and angler, Cooper harbored a profound reverence for the wilderness. He relished the rare opportunity for a days-long hunting trip, but he also sought and found the wildness in the everyday: in backyard gatherings, day hiking, quick paddles in the canoe, or an afternoon fish in the pond. He was never without his Garmin watch or shoes that could get wet. He rejected the social forces that have moved our lives indoors and online, instead seeking the profound freedom and beauty of the outdoors, wherever he happened to be. And he was passionate about helping others become comfortable with the outdoors, always inviting new friends (read: strangers) to hunt or fish, serving on the Board of (then named) Fort Bragg’s Backcountry Hunters and Anglers’ Armed Forces Initiative, and contributing to causes that would increase equitable access to public lands. www.backcountryhunters.org/honor_donation

To honor Cooper’s passion for conservation and the outdoors, please consider making a donation in his memory to Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, a nonprofit organization seeking to ensure North America's outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands, waters, and wildlife.

Cooper possessed a grounded courage, a ready mind, and an unflappable calm under pressure: He put these innate characteristics to good use when heeding the call to military service. His eleven years in service carried him across the globe and through life-changing experiences. And through eight moves and multiple deployments, he and Jenny also built a life and family together with courage and commitment. Their partnership was one built on mutual respect, intellectual vitality, shared aspirations and values, and clear-eyed sacrifice. As Cooper pursued his lifelong dream of serving as a Green Beret, Jenny discovered her vocation: removing barriers and solving the problems that made military life more difficult than it should be with Blue Star Families, the nation’s largest chapter-based military family support organization.

To honor Cooper and Jenny’s collective service and support other military families, please consider making a donation in their honor to Blue Star Families and its research-based advocacy and support for military families. bluestarfam.us/cooper