Sophia & Barry Cooper Family Fund

Sophia and Barry Cooper have established their Family Fund in their desire to give back to the community, to support those in need. They have spent most of their lives in Werribee, before selling their small farm and moving to Lara in 2024.

As well as devoting considerable time to raising their four children, Sophia has been actively involved as a volunteer in various community organisations for many years. During his long career as a professor of accounting at RMIT, Hong Kong Polytechnic and also Deakin University, Barry was actively engaged in education, research and the accounting profession, and is still involved as a volunteer for a number of organisations.

Sophia’s and Barry’s philosophy is that they have accumulated wealth through both hard work and good fortune; have sufficient to live in comfortable retirement; and want their legacy to be making available their remaining wealth to support charitable causes through the Geelong Community Foundation.

What Sophia and Barry feel most passionate about are fighting domestic violence and homelessness, and supporting educational, medical, indigenous and environmental causes.