Lodwrick Monroe Cook A LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP AND LOYALTY 1928 - 2020
LSU Legend
“I saw my role as a catalyst. ”
OD COOK – the man behind the Lod Cook Alumni Center and The Cook Hotel – began life in small-town Louisiana. Hot water came from a kettle on a wood-burning stove, he was third in his class of five graduates of Grand Cane High School, he lived and milked cows in the “old cow barn” to earn room and board while at LSU, and he started his career as “an engineering trainee digging ditches.” From those humble roots, Lod Cook achieved phenomenal success – and remembering his remarkable experiences at LSU, he used his standing and resources to make a difference at his alma mater, in Louisiana, and around the world. Lauded for unparalleled leadership exploits and business acumen as
Alumnus Extraordinaire
chief executive officer of ARCO, he was thrust into the political arena and worked at arm’s reach with Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter, and working relationships with these commanders in chief grew into close friendships. Presidents Bush, Ford, and Carter were special guests at the grand opening of the alumni center in 1994, and Bush returned for the dedication of the LSU War Memorial and the dedication of the Lod & Carole Cook Hotel and Conference Center. In remarks made at the twentieth anniversary celebration of the Lod Cook Alumni Center, he recalled being asked by then-LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts, “How does the Lod Cook Alumni Center sound?”
“I had to ‘sleep on it’ – having one’s name on a building is a little daunting. But I was excited about doing something different. ARCO traditionally endowed chairs and funded scholarships in honor of outgoing chairmen. I wanted to direct funds as a lead gift for the alumni building. I never had the notion that the building was to exalt me but rather my name might be a focal point, a leverage to attract financing. I saw my role as a catalyst. I would not have been a part of it – nor would this Association be the extraordinary organization that it is today – if one man had not asked me, “What do you think of the Lod Cook Alumni Center?” Lod Cook was a visionary. His gifts enabled the creation of structures and businesses that generate revenue to
continually support LSU and its thriving community. His hope was that his philanthropy would inspire his peers and the next generation of LSU alumni, fans, and friends to also give back to the University. He was proof that success can be had through the love of people and the love of life. Thanks to Lod Cook, LSU alumni and future alumni will chart their paths to successful lives filled with love by “influencing the middle,” as he did. An interviewer once asked Lod Cook what he’d like people to say about him when his passed from the ”great stage of life.” Cook replied: “I always kid people that on my headstone, they’d write, ‘Gee, what a guy!’” Indeed he was.
THE ENTIRE LSU TIGER NATION THANKS YOU! GOD BLESS YOU.
