Ethelbert Cooper, the Liberian who built a $3 billion African oil empire, is dead at 73
Billionaires Africa | 05.06.2026 14:28
The phone calls that moved African resource deals for more than four decades will not be placed again. Ethelbert Julius Llewellyn Cooper, known to virtually everyone in his orbit simply as Bert, died on May 23, 2026, following a prolonged illness. He was 73 years old. He was a Liberian-born, Yale-educated dealmaker who founded one of Africa's most significant independent oil companies, restructured an iron ore industry during a civil conflict, built scholarship programmes at two Ivy League universities and received Harvard's highest cultural honour. He did all of this operating mostly from the shadows, which was exactly how he preferred it.
