John Pastier AR'66

John Edward Pastier passed away on May 26, 2026. After graduating from Cooper in 1966, John moved to Los Angeles and became an architecture critic. He taught at SCIARC, Cal Poly Pomona, and UC Berkeley. John was a lifelong baseball fan and wrote two definitive books on American ballparks. He continued writing about architecture and baseball until 2023. Read more about his life here.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.