Memories of
Judge Cooke

Snow on the River

The late summer sky suspended over the Snake in the Grand Tetons was steely but not threatening to our East Coast eyes. Chief Judge Lawrence Cooke and some pals, bedecked in rain gear, climbed into a rubber raft. Coursing down the river between banks pockmarked with bird dwellings we were met head-on by an unexpected and energetic snowstorm. The temperature dropped, snow whistled down the narrow corridor of rock, and the river roiled further.

Standing on the bank at one turn of river beneath a stand of cottonwood trees stood a gaggle of Canada Geese. The birds on solid ground must have been startled by a pod of humans bouncing through the rushing current in the snow. Judge Cooke laughed and smiled and pointed. He was enjoying himself.

When the trip finally ended we clambered up a steep embankment for hot coffee and dry clothes. The memory of the journey is fresh in my mind and photographs show the laughing Judge Cooke and the geese looking at each other.

That summer of 1982 Judge Cooke fresh from his adventure on the water took over the helm as chair of the Conference of Chief Justices and president of the National Center for State Courts. He became chief of the chiefs. He brought to those posts, as he had to his judicial responsibilities for the people of New York, the same characteristics manifest on the river - determination, good humor and perseverance.

Often through controversy, he steered the New York court system and the national organizations with vision, good sense, and a keen mind. His stamina was remarkable. His work day seemed endless and he did it all with good cheer and grace. He was to me and to many others a great friend and mentor.

The best tribute I can pay to Judge Cooke is a recollection he passed along from his own father. He spoke of gratitude as "a lively expression of things expected." Judge Cooke gave me a sense of gratitude and expectation of the good.

Samuel D. Conti, Esq.

Frenchtown, NJ

I first met Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke in 1975 while serving as assistant dean at the Faculty of Law and Jurisprudence at the State University of New York. He was then a recently elected judge of the Court of Appeals. Judge Cooke hired several SUNY law graduates as his law clerks. Whenever we spoke by telephone he always asked about my family and my young daughter.

When Judge Cooke was appointed Chief Judge of New York by Governor Hugh L. Carey in 1979, I was on the faculty at Pace Law School in White Plains, New York. Our relationship continued through joint participation in bar association and continuing legal education events. Chief Judge Cooke frequently sent me personal notes and summer postcards from Kenebunkport, Maine.

In 1984, the Chief formed a Task Force on Women and The Courts. This was one of the first state or federal efforts to address the serious problem of gender bias in the courts. The Chief asked his chief of staff, Judith Harlan, to call "a young professor at Pace University who had been a real go-getter at SUNY Buffalo Law School." Ms. Harlan invited me to join a blue-ribbon VIP commission of 23 leaders of the state of New York. I accepted and spent two years as a volunteer member of the New York Task Force on Women and The Courts. Our final report received front page coverage in The New York Times, on April 20, 1986, and was published in the Fordham Urban Law Journal. The Chiefs report concluded that, "Bias against women in the New York state court system is so pervasive that they are often denied equal justice."

The Cooke report was ground-breaking and led to the establishment of 25 other state commissions on gender bias and at least three federal commissions, Chief Judge Cooke's commitment to eradicating gender bias was one of his most significant contributions to the citizens of New York.

In 1988, I chaired the Pace Law Appointments Committee. We wanted to hire an expert on appellate advocacy. I called the Chief, who had retired from the Court of Appeals in 1986, and asked him to consider the appointment. He, Judith Harlan, former Pace Law Dean Janet Johnson and I met to discuss the appointment. Soon thereafter a unanimous faculty voted to select the Chief as a full-time law professor and distinguished scholar in residence. He taught at Pace from 1989 to 1992. Professor Cooke was one of the most popular and highly respected professors ever to teach at Pace. His courses in appellate advocacy were always over-enrolled. The student evaluation forms rated him as one of the best teachers at the Law School. Professor Cooke actively participated in faculty meetings, helped place students with jobs, always attended VIP events, spoke at continuing legal education programs and authored law review articles.

After the Chief left Pace, we continued our friendship. He frequently reminded me of his father's advice to always "take the high road." The Chief was a mentor and confidante. His photos are on my office and home walls and his many letters remain in my desk to be read again and again. Chief Judge Laurence H. Cooke will be sorely missed. He was a great man and a towering jurist whose legacy will live forever.

Jay C. Carlisle

Professor of Law at Pace University

Georgia and I are both deeply distressed to have learned of the passing of former Court of Appeals Chief Judge Lawrence Cooke, of Monticello.

We have known Judge Cooke for many years, and I had the opportunity and privilege to work with him on a number of issues. I found him to be a jurist of great compassion and insight, who was universally loved.

Judge Cooke first served as supervisor of the Town of Thopson in the 1940's. Subsequently, he was elected Sullivan County Judge, and worked his way up the ladder of our judicial system, to our highest court-the Court of Appeals. His reforms reverberated in every courthouse throughout New York state, and his reputation for integrity knew no bounds.

When State Law required him to retire at age 70, Judge Cooke simply got his second wind and served as a professor of law at Pace University-where the students voted him their favorite professor- and he served his state and nation in a number of other important capacities.

Georgia and I extend our sympathies to his beloved widow, Alice, his wife of 61 years, to his three children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. We join in expending our condolences along with the many touched by this gracious kind man.

Judge Lawrence Cooke left his mark on all of us and will be long missed.

Benjamin A. Gilman

20th District-New York

Grieve not... nor speak of me with tears...but laugh and talk of me...as though I were beside you. I loved you so...'twas Heaven here with you." Simple, elegant, sweet and poignant were the words on the prayer cards at the Lawrence H. Cooke courthouse where the judge's family welcomed so many friends. Hundreds stood on line for hours to see the judge for one last time.

Having been owner/operator of Reds Restaurant in Coxsackie from 1971-99 with my wife Cathy, we were two of the many restaurateurs befriended by the judge. He was always gracious, always a gentleman and always with a hat (yes, his hat size never changed.)

Judge Cooke was the consummate "people person." For the judge, every day was a celebration, a new adventure. He entered into each conversation with an inquisitive joy and excitement, whether with a member of the staff or fellow patrons in the restaurant. And oftentimes a personal note would follow to mark the occasion.

In the political arena, we often hear the term "gravitas." Presidents Roosevelt and Reagan were examples of this larger-than-life attracting influence. Not by the arrogant use of power, but by the natural use of humility, did the judge endear himself to all who knew him, no mater what their station in life.

I would not be at all surprised to open tomorrow's mail and, as has happened to so many of us in the past, find a handwritten note from the judge saying how pleased he was for us to travel so far for a visit with him and his family.

Ed Barber

Greene County Republican Chairman