IN MEMORIAM: Fire Service Icon John Lee Cook Jr. Passes!

[ktb9780]

John Lee Cook, Jr., aged 62, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Georgetown on May 5, 2012.

John had a long and interesting career in the fire service – his life-long passion. He began his journey in the fire service when he was voted in as a member of the Huntsville, Texas Volunteer Fire Department in 1969. Since that time he served as a Baytown firefighter, a training officer in The Woodlands, the fire chief and emergency management coordinator in Conroe from 1981 to 1987 and Denton from 1987 to 1995. Then, he moved to Virginia to become the director of the department of Fire and Rescue for Loudoun County from 1996 to 1998.

John always enjoyed teaching and writing, which he did all during his career. His teaching ranged from the community college level in El Paso, Waco, and Austin to being an adjunct faculty member at the National Fire Academy, a speaker at professional meetings, or just visiting with friends and family.

After leaving Loudoun County, John was able to devote more time to his writing and teaching. He was able to finish his book Standard Operating Procedures and Guidelines, publish various articles in professional journals, write after action technical reports for major fire and disasters for the U.S. Fire Administration as a consultant for Varley-Campbell and Associates, and write fire and police department promotional exams, which he continued until his death.

John served as a consultant to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program at its inception and during the program’s formative years. He also worked for Booz-Allen Hamilton/Priorities 21 in support of FEMA’s emergency communications planning efforts along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts for the 2006-2007 hurricane seasons.

After returning to Texas in 2007, John continued this fire department work by serving as a Deputy Fire Chief for the City of Dallas from 2008 to 2009 and as the interim fire chief for the City of Freeport in 2010.

The family invites friends to join them in celebrating John’s life on May 24 at 2:00 p.m. at 1953 South Austin Avenue (the former Monument Café site), Georgetown. Contributions may be made to a fire service or animal related charity of your choice.

[shesinsane]

Thank you for posting this. John Cook was part of the group that got AFG up and running and part of the team for many years until he moved back to Texas. All the staff (both firefighter and civilian) liked working with him and he had endless patience for answering fire related questions by those of us without a fire service background.
Since a majority of posts in this Funding & Grants forum are AFG related, this forum is a good place to remember John Cook and all the work he did for the fire service in general, and AFG specifically.

[ktb9780]

My honor and my pleasure, madam!