William Cook (entrepreneur) - Biography

Biography

Cook was born in Mattoon, Illinois, and he grew up and graduated from high school in Canton, Illinois where he was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. He majored in biology at Northwestern University where he joined Beta Theta Pi fraternity and graduated in 1953. He had planned to go on to medical school, but was drafted into the army, where he served his two year stint as a surgical technician. Bill married Gayle Karch in 1957, and they had a son (now an executive within the Cook Group), Carl, in 1962. In 1963, the Cook family moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where they started the company that was eventually to become the Cook Group from their apartment. For his many contributions to society, Cook was honored with honorary degrees from Northwestern University, Indiana University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Marian College (now Marian University), and Vincennes University.

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