C. Everett Koop - Early Years

Early Years

Koop was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father John Everett Koop (1883–1972) and his mother Helen (née Apel) Koop (1894–1970) were both German immigrants, and Koop was their only child. He obtained his A.B. degree from Dartmouth College in 1937 and his M.D. degree from Cornell Medical College in 1941. During the 1940s and 1950s he rose in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine to become professor of pediatric surgery and, later, professor of pediatrics. In February 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Koop as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health with the promise, fulfilled a year and nine months later, that he would be nominated as Surgeon General.