“My father had two loves in life: family and The Cooper Union,” says Lisa Heller about her father, Paul Heller, who graduated from Cooper in 1953 with a degree in mechanical engineering. “He was almost obsessive in his devotion to his beloved alma mater and would find any excuse to get innocent friends and family to the East Village for long walking tours of his old haunts (including McSorley’s!). He lovingly documented new Cooper buildings as they were constructed, lobbied endlessly for a film about Peter Cooper to be produced, was devastated when free tuition was threatened, and remained an enthusiastic Cooper loyalist for all his days.”

Heller not only gave generously to The Cooper Union; he had a history of involving his family members to support his alma mater as well. First, he enlisted his brother Isaac, a co-founder of the iconic toy company Remco, to give the college $1 million in 2013. 

Isaac had also attended Cooper, and the two wanted to donate to help the school return to full-tuition scholarships. “I think he credits the school with representing everything that he felt was good and right in the world: equitable access to education and opportunity, the art of engineering, and lifelong friendships,” says Lisa. Heller, who served in the United States army, spent his entire career at Airborne Instruments Laboratory (later the Eaton Corporation), a company providing instruments to the aerospace and defense industries on Long Island, where he raised his three children—Lawrence, Lisa, and Debbie. There, he was project manager for many important initiatives including work for the Grumman EA-6B Prowler, a military aircraft. His wife, Ann, recalls that he was a talented photographer and had taken up sculpture in his retirement; she wonders if perhaps he’d been influenced by Cooper’s School of Art.

A member of the Abram S. Hewitt and Lifetime Giving societies for his charitable giving to The Cooper Union, Heller also gave to other organizations throughout his lifetime.

He passed away in 2017, so his wife, Ann, and daughter Lisa continue the legacy he started with The Paul Heller ME’53 Memorial Scholarship Fund, which is funded annually to support one engineering student who, ideally, keeps the scholarship for the length of his or her career at The Cooper Union. Lisa says, “He was profoundly grateful for all that this school had made possible for him and would be thrilled, I think, that we were doing what we could to support other young Cooper Union students as they make their way through this iconic institution.”