Legendary Berkeley Iconoclast And Street Vendor Dies Suddenly
BERKELEY, CA – (March 11, 2005) – Don (DW) Cooper, the Berkeley iconoclast and street vendor, died suddenly on Thursday afternoon, March 3rd. DW was for many years a part of the Institute for the Study of Consciousness founded by Arthur M. Young, inventor of the Bell Helicopter. The Institute was an intellectual hotspot of the ‘70s in Berkeley where the artistic, mystical, Gnostic and downright hallucinatory fermented with the scientific precision of Young and others. In that milieu, DW was a Baconian who pondered the possibilities of multiple universes and its consequences. His social inspiration came from his love of President John F. Kennedy and his concern for the truth about Kennedy’s assassination was on-going. In his later years, DW took to the internet with great delight. Under the pseudonym Ray Flanolanger, he engaged in arcane disputes spreading wit and mischievous confusion across the web. His blog, The Invisible College ( http://invisiblecollege.blogspot.com) delighted, titillated and enraged in roughly equal proportions. Don was a fixture selling his jewelry outside Spenger’s restaurant on Fourth Street. He leaves behind his soulmate and companion of 20 years, Crystal Mitchell, and many friends. A memorial picnic will be held near Lake Anza in Tilden Park, Berkeley, on March 20th from 2 -5pm.
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