May I, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



289 



The Late Edmund D. Cook. 



ALL Trenton felt a shock on hearing the news, on the morn- 

 ing of April 19, of the death of luinuuul 1). Cook, which 

 was caused by his being thrown from a spirited horse he 

 was riding in Calwalader Park. The estimation in which he 

 was held in the city of his residence was evinced not only by 

 the closing of the important manufacturing establishments in 

 which he was a director, but in the half-masting of the flags on 

 the city hall and on many other buildings, the calling of a special 

 meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and a meeting of the 

 leaders in the rubber trade in which ho figured to so important 

 an extent. 



Edward Dunham Cook was born .\ugust 12, 1868, at Trenton, 

 but most of his boyhood was spent in Princess Anne, Maryland, 

 where he received his early education. Mr. Cook's business 

 career began at Trenton in the office of the old pottery concern 

 of .\lpaugh & Magowan. Soon afterward he became identified 

 with what was then the Empire Rubber 

 Co., of Trenton, one of the incorpora- 

 tors of which was his brother, Cjcorgc 

 R. Cook. Later he assisted his brother 

 in forming the Trenton Oilcloth and 

 Linoleum Co., of which he was treasurer 

 at the time of his death. At the end of 

 1897 Mr. Cook assisted in reorganizing 

 a rubber business in Trenton which be- 

 came incorporated under the name 

 Hamilton Rubber Manufacturing Co., 

 and he thereafter filled the office of 

 president. In 1902, the Cook interests 

 having withdrawn from the Empire 

 Rubber Co., already mentioned, a new 

 company was formed, now called the 

 .Acme Rubber Manufacturing Company, 

 in wlHch the subject of this sketch has 

 been always an active director, his 

 brother being president. Mr. Cook was 

 also president of the Combination Rub- 

 ber Manufacturing Co. (Bloomfield, 

 N. J.), which in 1906 came under the 

 control of the Hamilton company. 



In addition to the business connec- 

 tions mentioned already, Mr. Cook filled 

 the office of treasurer of the Standard 

 Inlaid Manufacturing Co. He was also 

 second vice president of the Mercer ^^i^^^^m^tmm^^^ 

 Trust Co. and a director in the Trenton 



Trust and Safe Deposit Co. and the Trenton Hall and Building 

 .Association. He thus sustained an important relation not only 

 to the india-rubber industry but to financial affairs generally in 

 his city and state. The most important position of all to which 

 he was called was the presidency of the Trenton Chamber of 

 Commerce, which he accepted under protest, on the ground that 

 he might not be able to devote to it the necessary amount of 

 attention, but once having entered upon the duties of the office 

 no one could have been more assiduous than he in fostering the 

 interests of the organization. Indeed, all who came into contact 

 with him in this position testify to the ability which ho displayed 

 in it. 



But Mr. Cook had time for affairs other than those of busi- 

 ness. He was, for instance, a trustee of the Mercer Hospital 

 and a director in the Young Men',s Christian Association. The 

 social side of his life showed no less activity than was illustrated 

 in his business career. He was a member of numerous clubs — 

 Trenton Country, Union League of Philadelphia, Meadowbrook 

 Gun and so on and of Loyal Lodge No. iSi, Free and .Accepted 



Ij'M I sij L)l'.\h.\.\i (. 



Masons. He was accustomed to go South every year on a hunt- 

 ing trip, and meanwhile he found much pleasure in horseback 

 riding, the recreation which resulted so tragically. 



Mr. Cook's domestic life has been described as ideal. He 

 married Miss Margaret Parsons and the home which they 

 builded was the scene of a delightful hospitality. Four children 

 survive. Mr. Cook was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Bur- 

 roughs Cook, who still live in Trenton. He is survived also by 

 two brothers and a sister, Charles Howell Cook, president of the 

 Cook Pottery Co. ; George R. Cook, president of The Acme 

 Rubber Manufacturing Co.. and Mrs. J. Russell Bcckman. 



The funeral of Mr. Cook was well in keeping with his simple, 

 unostentatious life. While the home of the deceased was 

 thronged with probably the largest representation of prominent 

 men of Trenton that ever gathered to do honor to the dead, the 

 obsequies were of the simplest character, and every detail of the 

 arrangements was devoid of display. 

 Services were conducted by the Rev. 

 Hamilton Schuyler, of Trinity Church 

 (Episcopal). The honorary pall bearers 

 were tnen of prominence in the social, 

 business and professional circles of 

 Trenton. The floral tributes surpassed 

 in beauty and number any that had be- 

 fore been seen at a funeral in that city. 

 Edmund D. Cook was one of the most 

 capable of the younger men in the rub- 

 ber trade-. Although by temperament 

 cdnservative and absolutely free from 

 ostentation and advertisement of self, he 

 was quietly aggressive, of remarkable 

 executive ability and broadly capable as 

 the ci^cator and sustainer of great enter- 

 prises. Few men of forty have so 

 quietly and so successfully built up and 

 administered so many companies and 

 done it with so little apparent effort. 

 With all of his attention to the details 

 in the rubber mills, the great linoleum 

 plants, the banking and other enterprises 

 in which he was a vital force, he had 

 plenty of time for home life, and was a 

 welcome and interested member of the 

 club and social life in the city that now 



mourns his loss. The rubber trade of 



Trenton, and indeed of the country, have 

 lost one whom, had a brief score of years more been his allot- 

 ment, would have loomed large as one of the leaders in it, and 

 one who could have been relied upon always to follow a policy 

 of sanity, justice and probity. 



TRtBlTTE av THK TrENTON RuBBEH TrADE. 



A meeting of the rubber manufacturers of Trenton was held 

 at noon, Tuesday, .\pril 20. at the Chamber of Commerce build- 

 ing, as a formal mark of respect on account of the tragic death 

 of Mr. E. D. Cook, who until the morning of his death was so 

 actively engaged in the welfare of the manufacturing, banking 

 and business interests of Trenton, and prominent in the work 

 of civic improvement, to which latter eflfort he has at great 

 self-sacrifice devoted himself so recently. The following com- 

 panies were represented : 



Empire Rul)lKr MamifacturinR Co. i Qen. C. Edward Murray. 



Crescent Heltine and Paclting Co. J 



Wliitcfiead ISrntliers Mr. Samuet Cadawalader. 



Toscph Stokes Kulihcr Co Mr. H. I-. Boycr. 



Trenton Rubber Manufacturing Co Mr. Fred S. Wilson 



Home Rubber Co Mr. Charles E. Stokes. 



Luzerne Rubber Co Mr. Bruce Bedford.' 



