Obituaries

Dennis Cook Loved His Tigers, Served His Community

Cook remembered for work ethic and civic responsibility.

Every fall, when the University of Missouri Tigers took Faurot Field for a football game, Florissant resident Dennis Cook was somewhere watching.

“That was a big part of our lives was Missouri football,” said Jeff Cook, his son.

Although two of his sons attended and graduated from the university, Dennis remained an avid fan of the Tigers and built a basement filled of Tiger memorabilia. In fact, for several years, Dennis was a season ticket holder to the games, and he and his family would drive to Columbia, MO for tailgating and to watch the game, which is something he loved.

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The Tigers lost a huge fan on Tuesday, Feb. 1, as Dennis Cook passed away from a heart attack. He was 74.

Dennis Cook was born to Don and Joyce Cook on Oct. 24, 1936 in Manchester, IA. Following his graduation from Manchester High School in 1954, Dennis entered into the United States Air Force, where he served for eight years.

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On June 16, 1957, he married his love, Jo, and they had four children during that marriage, Jeff, Darren, Sandra Jo and Tim.

Following his tenure in the service, Dennis began his career as a business management consultant where he traveled across the United States and other countries such as Mexico.

In 1964, he moved his family to the Florissant area, but the family didn’t officially settle into the area until 1970.

After working for more than 35 years as a business management consultant, Cook retired in 2006, but he didn’t slow down.

Cook committed himself to becoming involved civically by becoming a part of the in Florissant.

“He was just wanting to do something more with the community,” said Jeff Cook. He continued to say that one of the most important things to his father was safety.

Cook could be seen throughout the community at meetings as well as ward meetings speaking on behalf of the Neighborhood Watch Program and gaining new prospective members.

For the past three years, Cook and a number of other residents worked to keep their community safe, and they appeared to be successful as crime trends continued to decline.

At a Florissant City Council meeting in late November, Cook and several other block captains were honored for their work and commitment to the Neighborhood Watch program.

“He was really proud of the program and the work he did,” Jeff Cook said.

Jeff further continued and said that his father also emphasized to his sons to be responsible and to do something right the first time or be prepared to do it again.

“If he saw a problem, he tried to fix it,” Jeff said. “He wouldn’t let a problem sit there. He would do something about it.”

Dennis Cook is survived by his wife Jo Cook; three sons and daughters-in-law, Jeffrey and Kathleen Cook, Darren and Patti Cook, and Timothy and Julia Cook; two grandsons, Justin and Jessie Cook; one great-grandson, Daxton Cook; one brother, Richard Cook. He was preceded in death by his daughter Sandra Jo Cook and his sister Dayle (Cook) Hidrogo.

The visitation has been scheduled for Monday, Feb. 7, 4-8 p.m. at in Florissant. The funeral service will be held Tuesday, Feb. 8 at the funeral home. The burial will follow the service at Jefferson Barracks.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to the USO or the American Cancer Society.


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