SALISBURY, Md. - Col. Bob Cook, the founding executive director of the Greater Salisbury Committee, and a longtime leader of numerous other community organizations, died Sunday morning, July 3. He was 96.
"What a life. What a legacy. A community treasure," the GSC said in a Facebook post. "GSC salutes and applauds this visionary giant, and we thank him for his service to our country, as a colonel in the United States Army."
Cook was born on April 23, 1926, in Pittsburgh, Pa. He and his family moved to Kane, Pa., where he graduated with honors from high school. Active in the Boy Scouts, Cook became an Eagle Scout in 1943. He graduated from Alleghany College in Meadville, Pa., and did graduate work at the University of Tennessee, becoming an economist.
Cook was 17 when he joined the Merchant Marines, serving as an ordinary seaman, returning to graduate with his high school class. He enlisted in the fall of 1943 in the Army Air Corps. After a year's delay in flight training, he resigned from that program and applied for and was accepted in the officer candidate school at Fort Benning Georgia.
Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry at the age of 19, Cook served in the end of WWII, as a company commander and an aide de camp in Germany. He continued his service in Europe and Korea. Cook served as a brigade commander in the Maryland Defense Force and retired as a colonel.
Cook taught economics and has authored numerous studies and articles on economic development, urban challenges, and the economics of transportation.
In 1967, Cook left the University of Delaware and moved to Salisbury where he became the first executive director of The Greater Salisbury Committee, which celebrated 50 years in 2017.
During his 25 years with Greater Salisbury Committee, Cook facilitated the founding of a number of major community organizations such as:
- SWED (Salisbury-Wicomico Economic Development)
- Delmarva Water Transport Committee
- Wor-Wic Community College
- Private Industry Council of Maryland’s Twelve Rural Counties
- Chesapeake Country Economic Development Corporation
- Re-Establishment of the Delmarva YMCA
- Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore
- Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore
Cook was president of the Delmarva Council of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1988, he was awarded the Lower Shore Distinguished Citizens Award given to honor prominent area leaders who have a wide influence in the business and professional community while serving as exemplary role models for youth.
Cook also served as a trustee and president of the Richard A. Henson Foundation and a board member of the Hudson Health Services, the Ward Foundation, the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, the YMCA of the Chesapeake and the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Vestry.
After retiring from the Greater Salisbury Committee, Cook remained very active in the community, serving on boards and advising numerous organizations. He was instrumental in the initiation of the Fincher Quarter Century Report (a seminal study of the effects of growth in Wicomico County) and the founding of the Salisbury Neighborhood Services. He also helped initiate a countywide delinquency program, reflecting his commitment to our youth, to excellence, and to the Boy Scouts.
Cook also was a volunteer with the YMCA of the Chesapeake, which honored him for his tireless leadership in the community by naming Camp Cook in his honor.
Cook's wife, Janice, died in 2009. Together they had four children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.