DOVER, Del. - The Delaware State Senate is mourning the death of former State Senator Nancy Cook who served as a Delaware lawmaker for Kent County for nearly four decades.
Born in 1936, Cook was first elected to represent Delaware’s District 15 in Kent County in 1974 and served until 2010, making her the longest-serving woman in the Delaware General Assembly. She was also the first woman to chair the Joint Finance Committee, according to the Delaware State Senate.
“Above all, Senator Cook was a fierce champion for the people of Kent County. Her legacy of bipartisanship and collaboration was centered on the principle of raising awareness about often-ignored issues that deeply impacted the people of the 15th District and beyond,” President Pro Tempore Dave Solola and Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker said in a joint statement on Monday.
“Long after leaving public office, we knew that we could count on Senator Cook to answer our call and share her wisdom with us — Democrats and Republicans alike — whenever times got tough. More often than not, she would be keeping an eye on us from her reserved seat in the back corner of the Senate Chamber, always ready with words of advice and encouragement.”
Cook was inducted into the Delaware Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998 for her service to the First State.