Friday afternoon brought sad news for the entire Bloomington community as Bill Cook, the founder of The Cook Group, passed away at his home. He was 80.
Cook, who was born in Illinois and graduated from Northwestern, donated millions to charitable organizations throughout the state and also to Indiana University.
Cook’s donation of $15 million towards Cook Hall was the largest donation Indiana’s athletics department has ever received.
In September of 2010, Cook was listed as the 101st wealthiest American on the Forbes 400 with an estimated worth of $3.1 billion.
Tom Crean reacted to Cook’s passing with a series of tweets, which have been compiled below:
“I am stunned and saddened. It’s hard to do justice to what he meant to not only this university, community and state but even the world. He was literally a life-changing giant of a man and leader. Not many people can say they made the world a better place because of work they did, but Mr. Cook sure can. The contributions he made will continue to impact lives forever. Players, recruits and fans will constantly have the opportunity to be blessed by the presence of Cook Hall. We always show them the Bill and Gayle Cook plaques with the names of every Cook employee listed on them. It shows a token of the appreciation of those that worked with them. We never get tired of talking about how special the Cook family is and always will be.”