Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper is the founder and chairman of Cooper Aerobics in Dallas and the physician widely known as the father of aerobics. He coined the term, and his 1968 book Aerobics helped start the modern fitness movement.
Career
Cooper was born in Oklahoma City on March 4, 1931. He earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Oklahoma and a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health, and he is board certified in preventive medicine.
He served 13 years in the military, in the U.S. Army from 1957 to 1960 and the U.S. Air Force from 1960 to 1970. As a flight surgeon and director of the Aerospace Medical Laboratory in San Antonio, he developed the 12-minute and 1.5-mile fitness tests and the Aerobics Point System, and he worked with NASA on conditioning programs for astronauts.
Cooper Aerobics
Cooper left the Air Force in 1970 and moved to Dallas with his wife, Millie, to build what became Cooper Aerobics on Preston Road. The campus includes Cooper Clinic, which specializes in preventive exams, along with Cooper Fitness Center, Cooper Spa and Cooper Hotel. He also founded The Cooper Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization.
His work has reached schools and companies. Cooper Aerobics says he helped pass Texas Senate Bill 530, which requires more physical education and annual fitness testing in Texas schools, and that The Cooper Institute worked with the NFL to bring its FitnessGram assessment to more than 30,000 schools. He also worked with PepsiCo to remove trans fats from Frito-Lay snacks.
He has written 20 books, which have sold more than 30 million copies, and Aerobics has been translated into 41 languages. His most recent book, Grow Healthier as You Grow Older, was published in June 2025.
Cooper has lectured in more than 50 countries. His own turn toward fitness came at 29, when he was badly out of shape; he lost about 40 pounds and ran the Boston Marathon a year later.
Recognition
Cooper is in the Living Legends section of D CEO’s 2027 Dallas 500. His son, Dr. Tyler Cooper, who led Cooper Aerobics as president and CEO from 2014, died in October 2026.