Reverend Doctor Roscoe D. Cooper, Jr. is the son of the late Roscoe & Virginia Cooper, Sr. He was born in Camden, New Jersey. He professed faith in Christ in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he also grew up and received his basic education. He is married to the former Christa Williams, of Philadelphia. They are the parents of three children, Alexis, Roscoe, III, and Chadwick and the grandparents of five grandchildren.
He was called and licensed to preach in September 1966. He was ordained to the Gospel Ministry, March 1969. He served as Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Haverhill, MA, 1969- 1971; Western Avenue Baptist Church, Cambridge, MA, 1971-1973; Fifth Street Baptist Church, Richmond, VA, 1974-1992.
In 1993, he organized the Metropolitan African-American Baptist Church, Richmond, VA. This church family is a community where unacceptable people find acceptance, helpless people find help, and hopeless people discover hope as God through our ever increasing faith blesses us to live together in love as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Pastor Cooper is a product of Philadelphia, PA Public School and a graduate of Cheyney State University, Cheyney, PA (B.S. Secondary Education) and Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Centre, MA (Master of Divinity). In 1991, he was honored with the Doctor of Divinity degree from Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA
He has served the larger church community as Lecturer, Church School/BTU Directors Division Congress of Christian Education, NBC, USA, Inc; Co-Host, Focus on Black Religious Life WTVR (CBS) TV 6 Richmond, Virginia; Host, Gospel According to Roscoe D. Cooper, Jr., a daily radio call-in talk program; WFTH 1590 AM Richmond, Virginia;, Editor, African- American Baptist Heritage Series, a quarterly publication of the Baptist General Convention of Virginia; Editor, National Baptist Voice, the official newspaper of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.; President, Baptist General Convention of Virginia; Moderator, Shiloh Baptist Association of VA; General Secretary, National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. His civic and social activities include service with Virginia Union University (Board of Trustees), Greater Richmond Chapter, American Red Cross, Richmond Daily Planet, Social Service Center for the Homeless, and Children’s Home of Virginia Baptists.