Cooke, Giles B., 1897-1974

Giles Buckner Cooke; born 7 Sep 1897, Gloucester County, Virginia, USA; died 13 Oct 1974 (aged 77), Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA.

Dr. Cooke, a native of Gloucester, Va., was a professor emeritus of chemistry at Essex Community College, where he served as chairman of the division of science and mathematics between 1960 and 1967. He was 77 and lived at 502 Yarmouth road.

Dr. Cooke graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1923 and received his M.S. and Ph. D. from the University of Maryland in organic chemistry.

After serving as a high school principal in several Virginia communities, he became a research chemist with the Armstrong Cork Company, in Lancaster, Pa., and then served as director of research for the Crown Cork and Seal Company, of Baltimore, from 1934 to 1959.

Holder of 21 patents in food and beverage packaging, Dr. Cooke persuaded the governors of 10 states to plant cork trees on state capital grounds during World War II. He had served as chairman and vice-chairman of the Maryland section of the American Chemical Society and won its Maryland chemist award in 1971. He was also editor if its publication, The Chesapeake Chemist.


Dr. Cooke was the author of "Cork and the Cork Tree" and contributed to the annual "Handbook of Chemistry and Physics" for 40 years. He was a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi, as well as of Trinity Episcopal Church.

He is survived by his wife, the former Anna Dorsey, and by his daughter, Mrs. William D. Allison, of Havre de Grace.