Bob Cooke, retired Newsday science writer, dies at 90

Former Newsday science writer Bob Cooke enjoyed making difficult topics accessible and understandable to readers from all backgrounds, his family said.

"He loved science and technology, medicine and space," said Cooke's daughter Emily Cooke of McLean, Virginia. "He really loved putting technical and scientific stuff into everyday language so the everyday man could understand it. He was really good at that."

The former Huntington Station resident died in his sleep on June 12, in Marlboro, Massachusetts, at the age of 90.

Robert William Cooke was born on March 26, 1935, in Alhambra, California. From 1954 to 1958, Cooke served with the U.S. Coast Guard. He earned a bachelor's of science in English from California State Polytechnic College in 1961, and a master's from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1962. In 1970, Cooke received a postgraduate degree in advanced science writing from Columbia University.

"He was a character: a gentleman in every sense of the word," said Cooke's friend and former Newsday colleague, Jamie Talan, of Council, Idaho. "He was sweet, smart, funny, and kind. I can't tell you how many meals I shared at their family table."

A lifelong journalist, Cooke started his career in 1962 as a reporter-photographer for The Pomona (California) Progress-Bulletin, before moving on to The Associated Press as a newsman in 1963. He then became a science writer at California Institute of Technology in 1967 before moving to Massachusetts to be the science editor of The Boston Globe in 1973. In 1984, Cooke moved to Georgia and took a position as a science/medicine writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In 1986, Cooke would settle in Huntington Station after accepting a position as Newsday's science writer, a role he would hold until his retirement in 2003.

Talan, a fellow science writer, recalled what a joy it was to work with Cooke.

"We used to say that we would do what we do for free, to write about science. I covered the brain, and Bob covered just about anything he was assigned. He was a lovely writer," Talan said. "He was still the optimistic fellow he always was ... he just enjoyed life, and I suspect he handled the ups and downs of life in the same even way."

 Cooke also wrote a well-received book, "Dr. Folkman's War: Angiogenesis and the Struggle to Defeat Cancer." "He got a $1 million advance" on the book, published by Random House in 2001, said Liz Bass, his science editor at Newsday. 

Cooke met his wife, Sue, who died 2003, in high school. The two soon married and together raised three children: Greg Cooke, Karen Cooke and Emily Cooke.

As a father, Cooke's children said he was "smart, intellectual, and a proud father."

"He liked to play jokes but he was always very supportive," Emily said. "He encouraged us to try whatever we wanted."

"He was fun. He loved to be silly, and he always answered questions and helped with projects," said Cooke's son, Greg Cooke of North Babylon. "He loved learning something new and meeting new people through his work. He was always doing research and exploring."

He won a number of awards, including the James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public from the American Chemical Society in 1981 and the AAAS-George Westinghouse Science Writing Award in 1991.

Cooke was an avid and passionate photographer whose subjects included nature and animals. He also enjoyed woodworking, baking pies and eating bran muffins. As a journalist, he was able to travel the world, including the South Pole, Scotland, India, Uganda, New Zealand, Peru, China and the Galápagos Islands.

According to his son, Cooke was "all about family, friends, adventure and doing for others, with others."

"Both of my parents loved finding a sense of community and like-minded friends," Greg said. "I think Dad would want his legacy to be remembered through his kids and grandchildren, and to inspire people to teach, to learn, always to explore and to give back."

Cooke's daughter Karen Cooke of Groveland, Massachusetts, recalled her father as being a "very generous, smart, and modest person."

"He was a real character. He was very funny, and his sense of humor was very strong," she said. She has fond memories of her father's "freshly made waffles and a gallon jug of maple syrup" every Sunday morning before church, she said.

Cooke and his wife were heavily involved with their churches, specifically the Centerport United Methodist Church in Centerport and the Sudbury United Methodist Church in Sudbury, Massachusetts, where he moved to in 2003. According to his family, Cooke and his wife raised money for church missions and different organizations.

"He loved making sure people were fed and had places to live," Emily said. "Anything that helped lift people up."

In addition to his children, Cooke is survived by two grandchildren, Madeline Ernst and Lauren Ernst. A celebration of life is planned for Aug. 9, 11 a.m., at Sudbury United Methodist Church in Massachusetts, followed by a burial at sea through the Navy.

Correction: A previous version of this story had an incorrect location for the celebration of life.