Martin Cooper was born on 26 December 1928 in Chicago, Illinois USA. He is an American engineer best known for his innovative work in the wireless communication industry. He conceived the very first hand-held mobile in 1973, and thereafter led a team to develop and bring it into the market in 1983. Martin is known as the ‘Father of the Cell Phone.’
How rich is Martin Cooper, as of early 2016. With the great innovations that Cooper has been linked to, it is only natural to assume that he is a wealthy individual. According to credible sources, he is estimated to have a net worth of more than $100 million. He has acquired this wealth from his career as an engineer, working for top corporations such as Motorola. He also founded his company, Dyna LLC, which has made him extremely wealthy.
Martin Cooper Net Worth $100 Million
Martin Cooper was born to Mary Cooper and Arthur Cooper. He was considered by many as a very intelligent kid from an early age. He attended the Illinois Institute of Technology, from where he graduated in 1950 with a Bsc in electrical engineering. He enlisted into the US Navy Reserve, serving as a submarine officer in the time of Korean War. He returned to earn his masters degree in elctrical engineering in 1957, from the same University, and where he now serves on the Board of Trustees.
In 1954, Martin Cooper started working at Teletype Corporation, a telephone company in Chicago, but then decided to join Motorola, Inc. in Schaumburg, Illinois, where he worked as a development engineer. Here he developed numerous products, which included a cellular-like, portable police radio system in 1967. By the early 70s, he headed the company’s communication system division to develop a portable cellular ‘phone, which took 10 years to complete and introduce to the market. The original handset was called ‘Dyna TAC 8000x, and weighed and measured 2.5 pounds)one kg) and 10 inches(23cm) respectively. On 3 April 1973, Cooper and the Chief of Portable Communication Products at Motorola, John Francis Mitchell, introduced two working portable ‘phone devices to the media in New York.
Martin Cooper worked for Motorola for 29 years, managing and building its cellular and paging businesses. He rose through the ranks, becoming the Corporate Director and Vice-President of the company. In 1986, Cooper moved on to start a company known as Dyna LLC together with his wife Arlene Harris. From the company’s headquarters, he continues to lecture and write about wireless communications, internet management and technological innovations. He has also worked on a number of industries, national and civil government groups, which include the Federal Communication Commission’s Technology Advisory Council and the U.S. Department of Commerce Spectrum Advisory Committee. His work in the technology sector has seen him earn a lot of money, making him a wealthy individual.
When it comes to awards and recognitions, Martin Cooper has enjoyed numerous awards in his career. Some of the awards and affiliations he has under his belt include ‘IEEE Centennial Medal and Fellow’ (1984), ‘Wireless Systems Design Industry Leader Award’ (2002), ‘Global Spec Great Moments Engineering Award’ (2007), ‘CE Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame Award’ (2008), and ‘Marconi Prize’ (2013), among many others.
In his personal life, Martin Cooper married Cellular Business Systems’ co-founder Arlene Harris in 1972. He had two children from a past marriage, but the information about his first wife is not publicly known. He lives in Del Mar, California.
