Gulfshore Life’s Men and Women of the Year award honoree: John Cooney

It’s one thing to be philanthropic and help our community. It’s another to provide so much help and want absolutely nothing in return, not even your name mentioned.

WINK News anchor Corey Lazar talked to one of the honorees from Gulfshore Life’s Men and Women of the Year: architect John Cooney.

Cooney’s work has been constructed across Southwest Florida, including luxury homes, eye-catching office buildings and non-profit centers, but you will rarely see him accept credit in front of the camera.

“Mainly, John Cooney is a family guy,” Cooney said. “Family is really important to me, and very blessed to have my mother in town here, my sisters here with her family, but obviously, my wife and my children are paramount.”

Cooney has lived in Naples since 1990, a community he said he loves everything about.

“Naples had everything I was looking for, a great place to work, a great place to live, a great place to raise a family,” he said.

We asked him what got him interested in architecture.

“Growing up in East Hampton, I was a lifeguard and used to take runs on the beach. East Hampton is dotted with world-renowned architects and mega-mansions to modern pieces, and I was infatuated from the minute I saw them,” he said.

Now, in arguably one of the biggest projects in his career with special meaning to Cooney, he is heading up the capital campaign and designing the new Starability campus to transform more people’s lives with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“The old Hodges University property kind of fell in our lap it’s five and a half acres. Has a 42,000 square foot building on the property. It’s 25 years old. It needs a full renovation, but there’s room for an event center. There’s room for residential. It checked every single box,” he said.

Since his own son Brett has autism and epilepsy, the new Starability campus will help his own family.     

To read more about Cooney and the other men and women of the year, pick up the latest issue of Gulfshore Life.