Obit: Ann Nixon Cooper, 107

Published Dec. 22, 2009 at 7:20 a.m.

(WSB Radio)  Ann Nixon Cooper, the Atlanta centenarian who President Barack Obama spoke of in his Election Night speech, has died. She was 107.

Obama called Cooper an example of ``the heartbreak and the hope,'' noting she'd lived long enough to remember when black people weren't able to vote and was able to vote for the country's first black president.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Cooper died Monday afternoon.

Atlanta City Councilman Ivory Young said he met her when running for office in 2001 and found her stories about Atlanta history mesmerizing.

Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young recounted Cooper's legendary vibrancy, noting that she had taught senior citizens aerobics until she was 100.

He danced at Cooper's 104th birthday party, chuckling at the memory of how she outperformed him.

He said she would have turned 108 on Jan. 9.

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