Indiana University Press blog

In memoriam: Bill Cook

"I don’t fear death. I have no control over it other than what I’m doing now, to try to keep myself happy, content, working, not overdoing, not be too worried, do my exercises religiously, eat a reasonable diet—all these things I’ve tried to do because I don’t particularly want to give it all up. Now, if I get killed, I’ll sure as hell be mad." —Bill Cook, from The Bill Cook Story

Bloomington businessman and philanthropist Bill Cook passed away on Friday, April 15, at the age of 80. From a humble beginning in his apartment, Cook grew his company into a multi-billion dollar business with locations throughout Indiana and the world. But despite his vast fortune, Bill Cook remained as unpretentious as he was during the early days of his business, when he was building medical devices in his bedroom. In his biography of Bill Cook, Bob Hammel relates several examples of Cook's lack of pretention, including how he sealed the deal to write Cook's life story.

The two of us were not close acquaintances when, in September 2006, we took a ride in his car to the West Baden–French Lick hotel renovation and preservation projects then under way. Doing a biography of Bill Cook had been an ultimate ambition for me in some vague, out-there-somewhere day, but it was not in my mind when I got in the car.

We hadn’t reached the southern limits of Bloomington before he came out of the blue with a question: “How would you like to do my book?”

I thought long and hard, maybe a full second. Then I said, “I’d like to do that.” It isn’t recommended driving procedure, but he kept the car going, controlled the wheel with his left hand, reached his right across, and said, “Fine. Let’s do it.” That quickly I shared one of those legendary Bill Cook handshakes. An ultimate commitment.

After that handshake, Hammel said Cook "never went back on his end of the commitment in any way." His high level of commitment was evident in any project that he took on, and we thank him for all the contributions he made to the Bloomington community and the state of Indiana.

Services for Bill Cook will be held this Saturday, April 23 in the in the front rotunda of Cook World Headquarters, where Cook will lie in state from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Bill Cook wins Horatio Alger Award

Congratulations to Bill Cook, who is the winner of a 2010 Horatio Alger Award! He will be inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans during the association's award ceremonies, which take place in Washington, D.C. from today through April 10.

The award was given to the Bloomington businessman and richest man in Indiana to recognize his achievement from humble beginnings and his efforts in philanthropy.

Cook is the subject of a 2008 biography written by Bob Hammel entitled, The Bill Cook Story.

To learn more about the Horatio Alger Award and to view the rest of the 2010 inductees, please visit the association's site.

Further reading on recent Supreme Court decision and corporate personhood

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 decision to ease restrictions on corporate spending on federal campaigns. The majority opinion of the Court was that the First Amendment right of free speech extends to corporations and unions, and that Congress cannot limit the amount of money they spend on political campaigns.

Fundamental to the Court’s decision is the legal doctrine of corporate personhood, or the idea that corporations have the same rights as individuals. Taking issue with the application of this principle in a case involving a film about Hillary Clinton produced by a conservative group, Justice John Paul Stevens writes in his dissent that “The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court's disposition of this case.”

Editors Purnima Bose and Laura Lyons agree with Stevens about the legal fiction of corporate personhood. In their forthcoming volume, Cultural Critique and the Global Corporation, they trace the history of the concept of corporate personhood from 1886, and explore the ramifications of the expansion of corporate rights for ordinary individuals and democratic processes. You can read more about their argument against corporate personhood in excerpts from the introduction to their volume and in Bose’s chapter on “General Electric, Corporate Personhood, and the Emergence of the Professional Manager.”

Fox 59 piece on Bill Cook now online

Following up on yesterday's Bill Cook blog post, the video and an excerpt from The Bill Cook Story are now available on Fox 59's website.

Tune in to Bill Cook on Fox 59 tomorrow

Fox 59 (Indianapolis, IN) will feature a segment on Bill Cook Friday, March 6 between 7:45 and 8 a.m. and again that evening between 10:20 and 10:40 p.m. The TV feature and an excerpt from the book The Bill Cook Story will also be available on Fox 59's website. We will post the link to the story as soon as it become available.

Book review: The Bill Cook Story

"...Given unlimited access to the subject and his wife, the author is able to paint a particularly intimate portrait... [Readers] will emerge with many insights into the mind of a generous, though probably atypical, American businessman." —Philanthropy UK Newsletter

Read an article on The Bill Cook Story

An article on The Bill Cook Story appeared in the Sunday edition of The Herald Times (Bloomington, IN). Below is an excerpt:

Blending in: Cook’s story

No coat, no tie, just one of the crowd — but one with billions

Bill Cook, founder of the Bloomington-based Cook Group companies, has established businesses around the world, pioneered development of products that have changed the course of modern medical treatment and invested millions in restoration projects throughout southern Indiana.

But he doesn’t believe in a coat and tie, has never met a U.S. president and only recently added a garage to his unpretentious home on Bloomington’s near east side. <continue reading, requires subscription>

Bill Cook biography marches into bookstores this fall

As I was heading into work this morning, I heard the rat-tat-tat of a drumline practicing off in the distance. Immediately my high school marching band training took over and I began walking 8-to-5 in step with beat. Then I broke out of the rhythmic spell and remembered that I wasn't in band any more, but that the Drum Corps International Championships are being held in Bloomington this week. Bands from across the country are in town practicing for the competition.

Besides jolting my memory back to my high school days (where I spent countless hours learning drill in the school's parking lot from June through November, alternately wilting under the sweltering humidity or praying my fingers wouldn't freeze to the keys on my flute), this week's Drum Corps finals also reminded me about a new biography we are publishing this fall on Bloomington's own Bill Cook. What does Bill Cook have to do with drum corps, you might ask? The medical device entrepreneur is a man of varied interests, who happens to be the founder of the Star of Indiana drum and bugle corps. (He even gives advice on how to start your own drum corps.)

Want to learn more about the fascinating life of this visionary Indiana billionaire? Pre-order The Bill Cook Story by Bob Hammel from our website today!

Read a review of Profits before People

"This thoughtful book of business ethics knows its purposes: 'an effort to understand the proper place of commercial interests in marketing prescription drugs' (p 4) and 'to consider the kinds of concerns and standards and marketing-related practices that the public can legitimately demand' (of the pharmaceutical industry) (p. 8). Medical professionals, in particular, will want to read this book; so too will people worried about the effects of big pharmaceutical companies on health care for Americans. Ideally, that should include just about everybody, but as a practical matter perhaps, particularly students in business or medicine, policy makers and legislators, those in advertising and media, and people working for pharmaceutical manufacturers." --Your Health and Balance <read review>

Culture and Consumption II reviewed in Museum Anthropology Review

"Freakonomics, meet brandthropology. In this concise volume (a companion to his watershed 1998 effort) of articulate introspection and insightful ethnographic essays, the author exhorts anthropologists to take back their culture." <read review>