Jon Cooper was born on February 1, 1955 and grew up on Long Island. He received a B.A. degree from Duke University in 1977, majoring in Political Science. Since 1978, Jon has run Spectronics Corporation, a company with approximately 175 employees that is one of the largest manufacturing firms on Long Island.

Jon has been active in his community for many years, serving on the board of numerous organizations involved in the areas of environmental protection, children and family services, historic preservation and the arts. He also volunteered as a coach for 12 seasons in the Cold Spring Harbor/Huntington Soccer League.

In November 1999, Jon was elected Legislator for the 18th Legislative District in Suffolk County, which encompasses the northern portions of Huntington Township.

Jon Cooper was the author of Suffolk's landmark legislation that banned the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. This was the first law of its type in the nation and served as the model for similar cell phone laws subsequently enacted by dozens of states across the U.S.

Other legislation sponsored by Jon Cooper includes the "Safe Pets and Families" bill that protects domestic violence victims and their pets. He obtained funding for a marine research program to study the cause of the devastating lobster die-off in the Long Island Sound and introduced legislation to facilitate full public disclosure of election campaign finances.

Despite a massive lobbying effort by the multi-billion dollar ephedra industry, Jon successfully fought for passage of legislation prohibiting the sale of that deadly dietary supplement. Once again, this was the first such law enacted in the nation and it ultimately led to the imposition of a nationwide ban by the federal government.

In 2006, Jon achieved passage of New York State's toughest residency restriction law for child sex offenders, as well as a groundbreaking anti-loitering law for the most dangerous sexual predators. He also hammered out a bipartisan agreement for the 2007-2009 Capital Budget that saved taxpayers $13.9 million and helped lead the successful effort to pass an Operating Budget that cut general fund property taxes.