Carter Vanderbilt Cooper

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Carter Vanderbilt Cooper (January 27, 1965 – July 22, 1988) was the first born son of writer Wyatt Cooper and his wife, designer and artist Gloria Vanderbilt and the elder brother of journalist Anderson Cooper.

While there are few sources available about the life of Carter Cooper, he is mentioned frequently in his father's book, Families: a memoir and a celebration (HarperCollins 1975). Early in the book Wyatt describes his son saying "Carter is intellectual, thoughtful, sensitive, gentle, fastidious, subtle and very aware of everything around him. He likes reading, talking, and time to think his thoughts"^[1]. Wyatt goes on to say that as a child Carter was interested in history, particularly military history, and architecture. He took an interest in the Vanderbilt houses. Biltmore, at Asheville, North Carolina with its own railway and grounds designed by Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted was his childhood favourite.^[2]

Carter Cooper attended The Dalton School in New York city and later graduated from Princeton University. In an article written for the September 2003 issue of Details Anderson Cooper wrote of his brother that, "[a]fter graduation, he wrote book reviews and started editing a history magazine; he talked about writing a novel. Politics was a passion, but he wasn't suited for the rough-and-tumble of the game. He felt things too deeply. "There's no wall between Carter's head and his heart," a friend of his once said. That was true."^[3]

Sadly, what is best known about Carter Cooper's life is the manner in which it ended. On July 22, 1988, as his mother watched, Carter leaped to his death from the balcony of her 14th floor apartment. His last words reportedly were "Will I ever feel again?"^[4] An article that appeared in the New York Times the following day noted that "Mr. Cooper, who had been undergoing treatment for depression, left no note". ^[5] Gloria Vanderbilt wrote in her book, A Mother's Story, that she believed that Carter's actions were caused by a psychotic episode induced by an allergy to the anti-asthma medical prescription drug Proventil (though in addition, it has been theorized that he was sleepwalking and not in his usual state^{[citation needed]}). The funeral was held July 26, 1988 at St. James Episcopal Church in New York. Carter Vanderbilt Cooper was laid to rest beside his father.