EXHIBIT 99.1


            COOPERATIVE BANKSHARES, INC. APPOINTS NEW AUDIT COMMITTEE
                   MEMBER; ANNOUNCES RECEIPT OF NASDAQ LETTER


     WILMINGTON, North Carolina, May 20, 2008 -- Cooperative Bankshares, Inc.
(NASDAQ: COOP) (the "Company") today announced that on May 20, 2008, the Company
appointed R. Allen Rippy to the Company's Audit Committee. The Company's Board
of Directors also determined that Mr. Rippy is "independent" under the
applicable rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market ("Nasdaq") and the Securities and
Exchange Commission.

     As previously announced, Paul G. Burton, who was one of the Company's
independent directors and a member of the Company's Audit Committee, retired
from the Company's Board of Directors on April 25, 2008 because he reached the
mandatory retirement age set forth in the Company's Bylaws. On May 16, 2008, the
Company received a letter from Nasdaq indicating that, as a result of the
retirement of Mr. Burton from the Board, the Company was no longer in compliance
with the requirements of Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4350, which requires that the
Company have three independent directors serving on its Audit Committee.

     In a subsequent letter to the Company, dated May 20, 2008, the Nasdaq staff
confirmed that Mr. Rippy's appointment to the Audit Committee rendered the
Company in compliance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4350.

     Chartered in 1898, Cooperative Bank provides a full range of financial
services through twenty three offices in Eastern North Carolina and two offices
in South Carolina. The Bank's subsidiary, Lumina Mortgage, Inc., is a mortgage
banking firm, originating and selling residential mortgage loans through three
offices in North Carolina.

     Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, which contain words such as
"expects," "intends," "believes" or words of similar import, are subject to
numerous risks and uncertainties disclosed from time to time in documents the
Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which
could cause actual results to differ materially from the results currently
anticipated. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking
statements.