Variety is reporting that Ray Cooper, former Virgin Records America Co-President with Ashley Newton, died on Saturday, July 28th, in Guildford, Surrey, England. He was 69 and had been suffering from a rare neurological condition, Progressive Primary Aphasia (PPA), which also affected Monty Python’s Terry Jones, causing loss of speech.

Virgin Records founder Richard Branson called him, “an extraordinary delightful individual and an incredible talent, Virgin Records would never have grown into the music force it became without him.”

Cooper was originally named to the post with Newton in September 1997, after the departure of Virgin President/CEO Phil Quartararo, who left to join Warner Bros. Records. The two came over from Virgin U.K., which they led to the third-largest music group in Britain.

Cooper was one of the first of a wave of UK execs who made their way to the US, including current music group chiefs for Universal Music Group (Lucian Grainge), Sony Music (Rob Stinger) and Warner Music Group (Max Lousada).

He started his career in 1972 as a sales rep for Nat Joseph’s eclectic Transatlantic Records, rising through the ranks to become sales manager. In the late ‘70s, he worked for Ian Ralfini’s Anchor Records and then Don Arden’s Jet Records, helping break Electric Light Orchestra worldwide. Cooper became a sales director for Island Records in 1980, then Marketing Director, responsible for a world-class roster that included Bob Marley, U2 and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. It was there he first met and formed a successful working partnership with the label’s A&R Director Ashley Newton.

Read more at Variety.com.