SLS 17RS-2606 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 162
BY SENATOR CARTER
CONDOLENCES. Expresses condolences upon the death of Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook,
former president of Dillard University.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To express the sincere condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana upon the
3 death of Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook, former president of Dillard University.
4 WHEREAS, it is with deep regret and profound sorrow that the members of the
5 Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana and the citizens of Louisiana have learned of the death
6 of Samuel DuBois Cook on May 29, 2017, at the age of eighty-eight; and
7 WHEREAS, Samuel DuBois Cook was born in 1928 in Griffin, Georgia, received
8 a A.B. degree from Morehouse College in 1948 and a M.A. and PhD from Ohio State
9 University, was a Korean War veteran, and went on to teach at Southern University, Atlanta
10 University, the University of Illinois, UCLA, and Duke University; and
11 WHEREAS, while at Morehouse, Dr. Cook joined the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and
12 was also an active member of the fraternity at Atlanta University; and
13 WHEREAS, he was also a former ordained deacon at White Rock Baptist Church
14 in Durham, North Carolina, and he was a longtime member of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist
15 Church; and
16 WHEREAS, in 1966, Dr. Cook was the first African-American to hold a tenured
17 faculty appointment at Duke University, a predominately white southern college, which
18 established the Samuel DuBois Cook Society in his honor in 1997; and
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SLS 17RS-2606 ORIGINAL
1 WHEREAS, President Jimmy Carter appointed Dr. Cook to the National Council on
2 the Humanities and President Bill Clinton appointed him to the United States Holocaust
3 Memorial Council; and
4 WHEREAS, he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and held
5 honorary degrees from Morehouse College, Ohio State University, Dillard University,
6 Illinois College, Duke University, the University of New Orleans, and Chicago Theological
7 Seminary; and
8 WHEREAS, Dr. Cook served as president of Dillard University from 1974 to 1997
9 before the university's board of trustees elected him as President Emeritus, one of only two
10 presidents who served for over twenty years, and is credited as the intellectual genius behind
11 the development of the university; and
12 WHEREAS, during his twenty-two-and-one-half-year tenure at Dillard, student
13 enrollment increased by fifty percent, campus facilities improved, student services expanded,
14 the number of faculty members holding doctoral degrees increased, and the university's
15 curriculum was strengthened; and
16 WHEREAS, in 1989, Dr. Cook created the Dillard University National Conference
17 on Black-Jewish Relations; and
18 WHEREAS, today, Dillard University has an enrollment of 1,200 and ranks second
19 in the country in black physics undergraduates while being particularly known for its nursing
20 program, which is the oldest in Louisiana; and
21 WHEREAS, Dr. Cook is survived by Sylvia Cook, his wife of more than fifty years;
22 Samuel DuBois Cook Jr. and Karen J. Cook; and grandchildren Alexandra Renee Cook and
23 Samuel DuBois Cook III; and
24 WHEREAS, Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook was a dedicated and loving husband, father,
25 and grandfather, an educator in the true sense of the word, an administrator, an author, a
26 public servant in the finest sense, a civil and human rights activist, one of the legendary
27 figures in higher education, particularly for HBCUs, and totally committed to the betterment
28 of his fellow man.
29 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
30 hereby expresses its profound condolences to the family of Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook upon
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SLS 17RS-2606 ORIGINAL
1 the occasion of his passing.
2 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
3 wife of Samuel DuBois Cook, Sylvia Cook.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
SR 162 Original 2017 Regular Session Carter
Expresses condolences upon the death of Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook, former president of
Dillard University.
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