Lodwrick Monroe Cook III (June 17, 1928 – September 28, 2020) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was best known for his tenure from 1986 to 1995 as the chairman of Atlantic Richfield.

Early life and education

Cook was raised in Grand Cane, Louisiana. He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in 1950 and was also a member of the Sigma Chi Gamma Iota Chapter there. After service in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, Cook returned to LSU and earned a second degree in petroleum engineering in 1955. He later received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

which he attended in the evenings. Louisiana State University,

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California, United States. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It o ...

, and St. Augustine's College have awarded Cook honorary degrees for charitable work and contributions. Cook was the father of five children (all adults) and had ten grandchildren. He lived in

Sherman Oaks, California Sherman Oaks (founded in 1927) is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, California within the San Fernando Valley region. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density ...

. His wife, Carole Diane Cook, died in 2010.

Employment

Beginning in 1956, Cook was employed with

Atlantic Richfield Company Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (bran ...

(ARCO), the seventh largest oil company in the United States. Cook was hired as an engineer trainee, but went on to hold several management positions in labor relations, refining, marketing and planning, rising to become a vice president of the company in 1970. After heading up ARCO's West Coast refining marketing operations, he chaired the eight-company Owners’ Committee building the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. When the multi-million dollar pump station burned, Cook proposed a solution of injecting a drag reducing agent to speed the flow, a success when implemented and resulting in the savings several hundreds of millions of dollars. In January 1986, he became ARCO's chairman and CEO, succeeding the Robert O. Anderson. He remained in his position for nine years until, in June, 1995, he retired, becoming Chairman Emeritus. In September, 1997, Cook became Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Pacific Capital Group, a venture capital, merchant banking group founded by

Gary Winnick Gary Winnick (October 13, 1947 – November 4, 2023) was an American billionaire businessman, industrialist, and investment banker. He served as the chairman and CEO of Winnick & Company, a private equity firm that he originally established a ...

. The following year, in April, 1998, Cook was installed by Winnick as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of

Global Crossing Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provided computer networking services and operated a tier 1 carrier. It maintained a large backbone network and offered peering, virtual private networks, leased lines, audio and vid ...

, a position Cook held until he stepped down in 2002 during the company's bankruptcy proceedings. Cook also served as chairman of

Global Marine Systems Global Marine Group is a British-headquartered specialist provider of installation, maintenance and repairs of submarine communications cable, submarine communications cable for the telecommunications, oil & gas and deep sea research industries. ...

beginning in 1999 and

Asia Global Crossing Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

in 2000. In addition to ARCO and Global Crossing, Cook has served on the board of directors for

Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and merged in 1995 with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but otherwise-u ...

(until 1995), Castle & Cooke, the Kyle Foundation and Litex, Inc. He was also a member of the advisory committee of Aurora Capital Partners.

Personal life

Cook was a member of the LSU Alumni Association's board of directors, an organization he had actively worked with and contributed to financially for many years. Through direct personal donations as well as his own fundraising efforts, Cook donated the money used by LSU for construction of an alumni center. The , 128-room building was opened in a ceremony led by former president

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

and named in honor of Cook's work. In addition to LSU, Cook was a member of the chancellor's court of benefactors for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in England and he was a Life Regent of Pepperdine University. He previously served on the board of advisors of the Carter Center of Emory University. He was a trustee of the

George Bush Presidential Library The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and burial site of George H. W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States (1989–1993), and his wife Barbara Bush. Located on a site on the west campus of T ...

Foundation and a director of the

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is the Presidential library system, presidential library and burial site of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States (1981–1989), and his wife Nancy Reagan. Located in Simi Valley, California ...

. His financial contributions and work with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles led to the dedication of the Lodwrick Cook Rotunda within the library's downtown Los Angeles location.

References

External links

Hall of Distinction Class of 1985-1986
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Lodwrick 1928 births 2020 deaths American energy industry businesspeople ARCO Businesspeople from Los Angeles Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Military personnel from Louisiana People from Bienville Parish, Louisiana People from DeSoto Parish, Louisiana United States Army officers