[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 98 (Thursday, July 18, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7028-S7029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE IN REMEMBRANCE OF DAVIS O. COOKE

  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the late 
David O. Cooke, Defense Department Director of Administration and 
Management. I would like to offer my condolences to Mr. Cooke's three 
children, Michele, Lot and Davis, along with his other family members, 
friends, and coworkers. Mr. Cooke has truly imprinted an everlasting 
legacy on the American defense system and our great Nation. Although 
our Nation mourns for this tragic loss, we must remain strong in 
honoring such an outstanding individual. For six decades, David O. 
Cooke served the federal government distinguishing himself as one of 
the most exceptional and honorable civil servicemen of our time. He was 
truly a visionary, epitomizing the core values of exemplary public 
service. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an 
article from the Washington Post.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record,as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, June 27, 2002]

               David Cooke, `Mayor of the Pentagon,' Dies

                         (By Graeme Zielinski)

       David O. ``Doc'' Cooke, 81, the high-ranking administrative 
     director who was known as the ``Mayor of the Pentagon'' for 
     his work over six decades to keep the gargantuan complex 
     humming, died June 22 at the University of Virginia Medical 
     Center.
       He died of injuries received June 6 in a car accident two 
     miles north of Ruckersville, Va., when his vehicle veered off 
     Route 29 and rolled over several times, Greene County Sheriff 
     William Morris said yesterday. It wasn't known what caused 
     the accident, Morris said.
       Mr. Cooke had served at the Pentagon since the late 1950s 
     and as its top civil servant had a hand in every major 
     Defense Department reorganization during that time. He knew 
     virtually every inch of the 20 miles of corridors in the 
     building and was the department's highest-ranking career 
     civil servant.
       As Defense Department director of administration and 
     management, he had a vast institutional memory and numerous 
     friends spread throughout Washington's power structure. It 
     meant that he had the ear and respect of flag officers, 
     members of Congress and Cabinet officials--and not only 
     because he dispensed office space and the Pentagon's 8,700 
     parking places.
       In a 2001 edition of Government Executive Magazine, editor 
     Timothy B. Clark called Mr. Cooke ``a force for good in the 
     federal government.''
       Mr. Cooke's many honors included seven awards of the 
     Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service. In 1999, he 
     was given the President's Award for Distinguished Federal 
     Service, the highest government service award.
       Mr. Cooke called in some of his considerable chits in the 
     late 1980s and early 1990s as he argued vociferously for a 
     billion-dollar renovation of the Pentagon. Up until Sept. 11, 
     it was scheduled for completion in 2004.
       The hijacked airliner that slammed into the side of the 
     building that day, killing 189 people, hit a wedge of the 
     Pentagon that had undergone upgrading. Some of those features 
     supported by Mr. Cooke have been credited with saving many 
     lives.
       ``The steel that we used to strengthen the walls, the 
     blast-resistant windows, the Kevlar cloth, all those things 
     working together helped protect countless people,'' Walker 
     Lee Evey, the program manager for the Pentagon renovation, 
     said. ``Doc Cooke strongly supported all of these.''
       Mr. Cooke also was a strong supporter of the government as 
     an institution and was active in good-government groups and 
     community service projects.
       He served on the President's Interagency Council on 
     Administrative Management and was a leader of the Combined 
     Federal Campaign and an active member of the American Society 
     for Public Administration.
       In the early 1990s, he worked to create a Public Service 
     Academy at Anacostia High School that has been credited with 
     improving the school's graduation rates. He also was known in 
     the Pentagon as a strong promoter of employment opportunities 
     for minorities, women and disabled people.
       Mr. Cooke was born and raised in Buffalo, where his parents 
     were teachers. He began following their path, receiving a 
     bachelor's degree from the New York State Teachers College at 
     Buffalo and later a master's degree in political science from 
     the State University of New York at Albany.
       His teaching career was interrupted by World War II, when 
     he served as an officer aboard the USS Pennsylvania, a 
     battleship that saw action in the Pacific.
       Mr. Cooke returned to teach high school in Buffalo in the 
     late 1940s, but was recalled to the Navy during the Korean 
     War. After getting his law degree from George Washington 
     University in 1950, he served as a Navy attorney and 
     instructor.
       His Pentagon career began in 1958, when he was assigned as 
     a civilian to a Defense Department reorganization sought by 
     then-Secretary Neil McElroy.
       Mr. Cooke retained his professorial ways throughout his 
     career, but his humor often helped leaven the serious 
     atmosphere in the Pentagon. Mr. Cooke was just as likely to 
     quote a Greek philosopher as a pithy joke or homespun tale.
       Evey, the Pentagon renovation manager, recalled an aside at 
     a dedication ceremony last summer. ``He said that he took it 
     as a sign that the building needed to be renovated when the 
     fungus on the wall took the shape of Elvis,'' he said.
       Mr. Cooke was not laughing when he argued in the 1980s for 
     the renovation and for the Pentagon to be transferred from 
     under the auspices of the General Services Administration to 
     the Defense Department. He said it was a crucial step in 
     rehabilitating the world's largest office building.
       Mr. Cooke would make routine trips to Capitol Hill with 
     what he called his ``horror board,'' a convincing collage of 
     fallen asbestos or rotted piping from the Pentagon.
       In 1998, Mr. Cooke testified before a federal grand jury 
     about alleged leaks by then-Assistant Defense Secretary 
     Kenneth Bacon of

[[Page S7029]]

     personnel information about Linda Tripp to a reporter. With 
     characteristic good humor, he told reporters after he 
     testified that Tripp's name came up ``now and again.''
       Mr. Cooke was a presence on Sept. 11, rushing to aid rescue 
     and recovery operations. In the months after the rebuilding 
     began, the usually low-key administrator began making more 
     public appearances, speaking in memory of the victims.
       At a speech in November, he told an Albany, N.Y., crowd: 
     ``The damage to the building will be rebuilt. You'll never 
     know the difference eventually.''
       His wife of 52 years, Marion McDonald Cooke, died in 1999.
       Survivors include three children, Michele C. Sutton of 
     Springfield and David Cooke and Lot Cooke, both of Fairfax; 
     and four grandchildren.
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