COOLEY, LATHROP (25 Oct. 1821-2 Jan. 1910), a DISCIPLES OF CHRIST minister, was born in Genesee County, N.Y. to a family that moved to Portage and then Lorain County, Ohio. He attended Brooklyn Academy and finished studying in Bethany, W.Va. Although he taught school, Cooley began preaching in 1843 at N. Eaton in Lorain County and, except for one year in Chicago, he was an active minister for 60 years in the WESTERN RESERVE. Cooley, interested in business, made sound real-estate investments, was a director of the Citizens Savings & Trust Co., and was involved in other Cleveland businesses. His interest in education led to a 30-year tenure as benefactor and trustee of Hiram College. Cooley eloquently supported ventures he considered important for Cleveland's public good. He preached in the workhouse, the city jail, and the Aged Women's Home. In 1880, he was appointed superintendent and chaplain of the Cleveland Bethel Union, a reorganized seamen's mission that eventually sheltered women, offered an outdoor work-relief program, and conducted missionary services. In 1877, Cooley founded the Disciples Mission, which in 1883 became the Cedar Ave. Church of Christ, attended by TOM L. JOHNSON. His business investments led a legacy establishing what became HURON RD. HOSPITAL. Cooley was responsible for financing a chain of Disciples of Christ missions around the world. He was twice married; his first wife, Laura Reid, whom he married in 1848, died in 1893. They had five children including Almon B. and HARRIS REID COOLEY. In 1895 he married Letta E. Searles.
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