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