Robert E. Copeland ’57

Robert E. Copeland ’57 died on December 28, 2023. “Copes” graduated from Ithaca (New York) High School. He majored in international relations and was active in Phi Kappa Psi, the rifle team, Winter Carnival staff, Cabin & Trail, and Navy ROTC. After the Navy he went through Cornell Law School and began a long career with the federal government. Most of his time was with the U.S. Labor Department working with regulatory laws to protect workers from their employers. His stated beliefs: Government social programs can make things better; the federal government has tried to do more than it has the resources to accomplish; politicians ask federal managers to show a profit, which is not always possible; we have moved from a nation that believed in government service to one that has both parties reviling it as the hated bureaucracy; and we have used states rights as belief with little current meaning or truth, a thin excuse for not improving things or unifying us. Copes acquired a small farm outside Washington, D.C., and spent much of his leisure time there. His hobbies were carpentry, gardening, and needlepoint. “Copes bore proudly for the title of class curmudgeon. We were often appalled by some of his posts…and we were delighted by his memories, often historical, of upstate New York, the Iroquois, and the Civil War,” according to Jay Greene ’54. He served Dartmouth as Alumni Fund volunteer for 18 years. Copes is survived by his spouse, Marian, daughter Melissa and son Ogden.