The Tyler Cooper & Alcorn Foundation was established in 2005 with an initial gift made by the partners of the firm in the amount of $200,000. The purpose of the foundation is to assist victims of traumatic or acquired brain injuries and their families. The Foundation will also seek to support research concerning the treatment of brain injury, as well as make other charitable grants and gifts.
Foundation Focus
The Foundation was created by Tyler Cooper in response to the disabling injury suffered in November 2002 by Ronald J. Cohen, who was then the firm's Managing Partner. Mr. Cohen was walking in New Haven during the weekend after Thanksgiving, when he was struck by a motorist. The accident inflicted severe and permanent brain injury. Married and the father of two teenage daughters, Mr. Cohen was a highly successful business lawyer who had practiced with Tyler Cooper for 26 years. Mr. Cohen passed away in July of 2005.
Board of Directors
The members of Tyler Cooper & Alcorn, LLP elect the directors of the Foundation. At this time, all directors of the Foundation are partners of Tyler Cooper & Alcorn, LLP.
Gifts and Grants
The Foundation makes charitable grant awards primarily through decisions reached independently by its Board of Directors. At the present time, we are not accepting other unsolicited grant proposals.
Below are brief descriptions of several of the donations made possible through the Foundation:
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Gaylord Hospital - A donation was earmarked for continuing medical education of the medical staff who work with patients with traumatic brain injuries.
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The Acorn Club - The Acorn Club, of which Ralph G. Elliot was a member, is a group of bibliophiles who promote Connecticut's history by issuing reprints of rare primary sources bearing on the state's past. The project being dedicated in memory of Ralph Elliot involves the republication of a selection of the newspaper commentary together with the one pamphlet produced that bore on the framing and ratification of Connecticut's Constitution of 1818. The Acorn volume is designed to compliment the State Library's publication of the legislative and convention records and debates. the primary audience for the volume is students of the state's history. "Original Discontents" will include 27 documents, among which will be the only pamphlet issued in connection with the controversy over framing a constitution and several newspaper series.
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University of Connecticut Law School Foundation - The Ralph Gregory Elliot Memorial Scholarship was established in memory of Ralph G. Elliot who was a partner of Tyler Cooper, longtime outside counsel to the Courant, and adjunct professor at the UConn School of Law. The scholarship is to provide support for students enrolled in the UConn law school, with preference given to students with undergraduate degrees from Yale College. Once the endowment has sufficiently grown, it will be used to establish a professorship in first amendment law.
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Brain Injury Association of Connecticut (BIAC) - The mission of the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut, Inc. (BIAC), is to support persons with brain injury and their families by promoting services to facilitate full inclusion within their local community, and to increase awareness and understanding of brain injury and its prevention through community education.