Cooper & Company Inc history

Gordon, who renamed the company Gordon Contact Lenses, Inc. in 1965, was renowned for his expertise in rigid lens design, but his most celebrated work involved the development of soft contact lenses.

In 1967, Cooper Tinsley Laboratories changed its name to “Cooper Laboratories, Inc.” As the company expanded globally, multiple locations opened around the world.

In 1970, Union Corporation purchased Gordon's company, creating a new company named UCO Optics.

After an extensive development phase, UCO Optics used its proprietary tetrafilcon to unveil its Aquaflex brand in 1976, the third soft contact lens to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

CooperVision then incorporated in 1980, and we’ve been striving to further our storied history even more.

In 1981, Montgomery was in the midst of orchestrating a mammoth deal: two acquisitions that would transform Cooper Labs into a billion-dollar conglomerate essentially overnight.

Again, Cooper Labs teetered on the brink of collapse, its interest expense rising to $25 million, or 65 percent of the company's 1982 operating profit.

The company joined the ranks of Fortune 500 companies in 1983 as one of the largest industrial companies in the United States.

In 1985, the company expanded its product line to include the Permalens, Permaflex, and Aquaflex brands.

Montgomery stepped down in August 1988, leaving a company he had started 30 years earlier.

CooperSurgical was formed in 1990, the year it acquired Frigitronics, a technology company that produced an assortment of gynecological and ophthalmic products.

Net sales reached $1 billion in 1991.

What had once been a company with more than $600 million in annual revenue ended 1993 with $92.6 million in revenue, a total collected from its involvement in the mental healthcare market, the vision care market, and the women's healthcare market.

In 1996, CooperVision doubled its contact lens manufacturing capacity, increasing the size of its Scottsville, New York, facility to 38,000 square feet.

Another $6 million-in-sales company was acquired in 1997, when CooperSurgical purchased Marlow.

1998: Company announces the divestiture of Hospital Group of America.

In March 1999, CooperVision received regulatory clearance to market lenses in Japan.

The company hoped to become the largest manufacturer of toric lenses in the world by 2000.

In a December 2003 agreement, Cooper entered into a joint venture with Kenda Rubber Industrial Company Ltd. for construction of a plant outside Shanghai, China, to produce radial passenger and light truck tires.

Then, returning the company to its core business of tire manufacturing, in December 2004, Cooper completed the sale of its automotive business, Cooper-Standard Automotive, for approximately $1.165 billion.

In 2005, CooperVision became the world’s third largest soft contact lens company.

In October 2007, Cooper entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Mexican tire manufacturer Corporación de Occidente SA de CV, forming a new company, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company de Mexico SA de VC (Cooper Mexico), to market, sell and distribute the Cooper and Pneustone brands.

In fiscal year 2011, CooperVision celebrated a milestone in achieving over $1 billion in global sales.

To complement the company’s well-established European operations and product offerings, in January 2012, Cooper acquired the assets of an existing tire plant in Krusevac, Serbia, providing an excellent location to supply tires to the European and Russian markets.

In 2013, Cooper announced its first United States passenger car original equipment (OE) contract, supplying Ford Motor Company with tires for the 2013 Ford Focus SE and Titanium models.

In 2016, Cooper completed the purchase of a majority interest in China-based Qingdao Ge Rui Da Rubber Co. (GRT) for the production of truck and bus radial (TBR) tires.