Theos-Talk Archives (May 2008 Message tt00168)

I would like you all to re-read the post at the bottom of this page  
when considering Mr Algeo
as a new president.

As the oldest child of the late John Cooper I watched my mother  
Shirley Cooper
suffer extreme anxiety and depression as a result of her dealings  
with Mr Algeo immediately after my
father's death.

She was also particularly distressed that in the forward/preface to  
the Blavatsky Letters Volume One,
he questioned the quality of my fathers research.

To quote Dr Tillett—

I leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions on the morality  
– if
not the legality – of using the property of a dead man, against the  
wishes
of his widow and children.

I watched a very healthy woman, in mind and body, who ate mostly  
organic food, and did not drink
or smoke, die of pancreatic cancer.  I feel that stress was a large  
contributor to her disease.

Warm wishes to you all.

Danielle Cooper.


I also enclose a further remark from Dr Tillett  —

During the months after John’s untimely death I spoke with Shirley  
frequently and visited her (alas, all too infrequently). The stress  
and distress she experienced as a result of unsolicited and unwanted  
communications by telephone and letter from Dr Algeo caused her great  
unhappiness, and me great anger. She was positively frightened by his  
announcements of his impending arrival or the appearance of some  
“agent” to “recover” archival material. Shirley’s time of  
mourning the loss of a beloved husband and partner was cruelly  
disturbed by heartless and hurtful interruptions. The peaceful  
solitude of her rural retreat was violated by “suggestions” of an  
imminent intrusion. Even at this distance in time, my outrage is  
almost immeasurable as I remember the pain she was caused. I hardly  
need to note that neither Dr Algeo nor any of his “agents”  
communicated with me. It has often been said that bullies choose  
their targets carefully.



Begin forwarded message:
From: gregory@zeta.org.au
Date: 26 November 2006 8:06:03 AM
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Theos-World HPB Collected Correspondence
Reply-To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

John recently stated: “My interpretation of Tillett's explanation  
was that
Coopers wife, in her great time of loss and grieving was pressured and
prevailed upon by the
Organization and gave in and signed over the "copyright" as legal  
heir and
successor
in spite of the views and reservations that others had or have that  
might
have been be perfectly justified.”

This statement is incorrect. There were certainly attempts to pressure
John’s widow to do what is suggested. She was deeply distressed and  
felt
quite threatened by actions taken by Dr Algeo and others on his behalf.
However, she gave away nothing and signed nothing.

Following John’s death, as the Literary Executor of his Estate, and  
acting
upon instructions from his heirs, I advised Dr Algeo that: (1) all
intellectual property rights in the manuscript of the HPB correspondence
had now passed to John’s heirs; (2) I was acting on their behalf;  
(3) the
heirs were fully prepared to allow the publication of the manuscript  
(and
to provide copies of all additional research materials collected by John
to facilitate the publication of this volume and subsequent volumes);  
(4)
however they required an undertaking that (a) John’s role as editor  
and
their intellectual property rights were to be acknowledged in the first
volume, and (b) that no changes would be made in John’s original work
without their prior approval. No reply was ever received by me or the
family, nor was the correspondence acknowledged. I subsequently wrote
again – and eventually to all members of the Committee involved in he
proposed publication for whom I had contact details – informing them  
that,
if the original conditions required by the family were not met, any  
use of
John’s work, directly or indirectly, would be in breach of their
intellectual property rights. No member of the Committee  
acknowledged, let
alone replied to, that correspondence. A letter was received from a firm
of attorneys in the USA appearing to claiming, with John’s death, no
rights existed. If this is what was being claimed, it is a legal  
nonsense
under both Australian and US law.

The publication proceeded with the claim implying that it made no use of
John’s research. However, taking the published volume and John’s PhD
thesis (which was the original work he submitted to Dr Algeo), and
comparing them page by page, the parallels are obvious.

Although we had taken advice from a US attorney on the options for legal
action to protect John’s work and the family’s rights, the costs  
involved
would have been vast, and the family did not have access to the  
resources
of a large organization (like the TS in America) on which to draw.

I leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions on the morality  
– if
not the legality – of using the property of a dead man, against the  
wishes
of his widow and children.

Dr Gregory Tillett





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