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Cook Produce founder remembered for his
optimism
By Laura Pate
(Reprinted from: The Packer, which
is a trade publication for the fresh produce industry
Parent Corp Vance Publications.) Originally printed Dec 2005.
Born 1919- Died 2005
COOK
(Dec. 19) After the clock struck 5, James Nolan Cook
didn’t seem to ruminate over prime time television.
No, he mused upon his one of his greatest loves —
the produce industry — a career field that allowed him to influence
other lives.
Cook died Dec. 5. He was 86.
“He was happiest when he was working, talking
about produce,” said his son, David Cook, who remembers his
father talking with clients or work friends into the evening hours.
Nolan Cook, as friends and family called him, served
in the Panama Canal Zone with the Navy in 1942. While overseas,
he met his wife, Katheryn (Kay) Jane Sanders, who was serving with
the American Red Cross.
After World War II, the pair moved to Salinas, Calif.,
for a few years. When he worked for Bud Antle Inc. in 1956, the
two relocated to Phoenix.
Perhaps Nolan Cook’s greatest accomplishment,
David Cook said, was the creation of a produce growing and marketing
company. With a business partner in 1958, Nolan Cook founded Glendale,
Ariz.-based Cook Produce Inc. David Cook said his father’s
customers knew and respected him as a top-class, honest, ethical
supplier of iceberg lettuce.
As the company grew, Nolan Cook acquired airplanes,
sent three children to college and remained with his wife of more
than 35 years.
In the early 1970s, Nolan Cook and his business partner
parted ways. For about 20 years, he continued working as a salesman
on his own and for other people.
He retired in 1992.
Throughout the ups and downs of the market, Nolan
Cook maintained an optimistic attitude.
“He never let the fact that things were bad get
him down,” David Cook said. “He was always sticking with
it and always trying hard.”
And, he displayed generosity. Nolan Cook gave his
son, David Cook, his first job supervising the cultivation and harvest
of lettuce, and he gave his nephew a job one summer. David Cook
has become sales manager at Deardorff-Jackson Co., Oxnard, Calif.
“A lot of it was family things — just helping
out people when he could,” David Cook said.
Bob Antle, who worked in the sales department at Bud
Antle Inc. in the 1950s, said Nolan Cook mentored him.
“Nolan was a great guy, and those days —
not knocking the way business is done today — but Nolan was
at the top of his game when friendship and camaraderie with your
customers was an absolute requirement clear across the country,”
said Antle, now co-chairman of the board for Salinas, Calif.-based
Tanimura & Antle Inc.
Though Nolan Cook placed work high on his priority
list, he also found time to serve as a volunteer and fundraiser
for the Boy Scouts of America, as fundraiser for produce industry
organizations and as a fundraiser for the Church of the Beatitudes.
Nolan Cook is survived by a son, David Cook; a daughter,
Camille Lepley of Phoenix; and three grandchildren. His wife and
his son, Christopher Scott, preceded him in death.
In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to Hospice
of the Valley, 1510 East Flower St., Phoenix, AZ 85014.
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