Thomas Rush Cook (Tom), age 77, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Gordonsville, VA on March 18, 2022. He is preceded in death by his father and mother, Sylvanus Daniel Cook & Jane McElwain Cook, stepmother Jean-Marie (McKenna) Cook, and younger brother, Samuel McElwain Cook. Tom is survived by his ex-wives, Cristi Cook and Kathryn Bundy; four children: Andrew Bundy Cook, Nathan Cook, David Cook, and Dana Lawo, as well as four grandchildren:
Claire and Evie Cook, and Dylan and Harper Lawo.
Tom was born on February 14, 1945, in the city of Washington, DC, however, he spent a good portion of his formative years in Massachusetts and Illinois. He spent his senior year of high school living in Beirut, Lebanon where his father Daniel was an administrator and professor at the American University of Beirut. Tom often reminisced about the times he shared with his father and stepmother Jean-Marie in Beirut, eavesdropping on the culture of academia. Tom credited his time in Beirut as a source for his passion for philosophy, music, and the arts.
After high school, Tom enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was stationed as a submarine tender in Spain for a good portion of his deployment. After completing his active service with the Navy, he went on to complete his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois, and a Master’s in Education from Illinois State University. With his degrees, his initial career path was teaching 5th grade in Illinois, which he enjoyed, but he was then inspired to learn about the newly developing world of computers and technology. Throughout his career, he became an excellent programmer, managed large implementation projects, and provided hardware and software services to many companies. Using this knowledge base and his keen writing abilities, Tom quickly ascended the ranks of prominent government contracting companies, and his words helped to build and evolve many companies and businesses throughout the DC area.
Although Tom was a dedicated professional businessman, he was also passionate and fully embraced many creative and artistic endeavors including: sculpting, painting, digital printmaking, writing poetry, playing the guitar, keyboard, recorder, singing, dancing, and listening to classical and rock and roll music. Tom loved being in nature, hiking, camping, rock climbing, racquetball, softball, wrestling, tennis, skiing and boogie boarding. He also loved dogs and cats, traveling, reading books, watching movies, cooking and eating great food, playing chess and cribbage. Tom especially loved being a father and enthusiastically shared his passions, creativity, playfulness and love for life with his children, family and friends. He will be greatly missed.
There will be a Celebration of Life in October at the family farm in Gordonsville, VA to honor and remember him. Details are forthcoming and will be published as dates and times are finalized.
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