ROBERT (BOB) LEIGHTON ELLIOT COOKE

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ROBERT (BOB) LEIGHTON ELLIOT COOKE (Med. Hons.), MD, FRCS Eng, FRCSC On Friday, February 8, 2013 Robert Cooke died at the age of 98 years. Bob was predeceased by his wife of 63 years, Ruth Elizabeth Cooke (Grahame) and his three older siblings, Enid, Beth (Whiteley) and Terry. He is survived by four children, Mary Ellen (Toronto), Robert (Toronto, Liesel Putrycz), Andrew (Winnipeg, Pamela Woodmass) and Sheila Cooke-Witt (Hamburg Germany, Karsten Witt); as well as 11 grandchildren. Robert (Bob) was born in 1914 in Wolseley, Saskatchewan during the opening months of the Great War. He had an idyllic childhood as the fourth child of a teacher and a country doctor with whom he did winter house calls in a horse-drawn sleigh, but his adolescence was seared by the poverty of the 1930s drought and Great Depression in a small prairie town. Perhaps as a result, he had a lifelong interest in economics. With combined sacrifice, his family sent him to the University of Saskatchewan where he obtained his BSc. and partial medical training and then on to the University of Manitoba to complete his MD with a Gold Medal in 1939. In 1941 he joined the R.C.N.V.R. and served four years as a surgeon on loan to the Royal Navy in England and on board the hospital ship HMHS Oxfordshire in Sierra Leone and South Africa. He was discharged in 1945 as Surgeon Lieutenant Commander. He completed further postgraduate surgical training in London (FRCS Eng.) in 1947 before returning to Winnipeg (FRCSC 1948) where he married Ruth in 1949. She had graduated from medical school the same year. After briefly practicing surgery, Robert, together with Ruth and their first born, went on to New York in 1951 for his surgical oncology training at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Then with a second child they returned in 1954 to Winnipeg where two more children were born. Robert joined the Manitoba Clinic in 1955 where he practiced until his first retirement at age 66 in 1980. During his career he was on the surgical staff of Health Sciences Centre. He was Associate Professor in Surgery, University of Manitoba. He served terms as Postgraduate Surgery Training Director, as Examiner in Surgery for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and as President of the Winnipeg Medical Society. Upon retirement from surgery, Bob continued with a second career, joining Manitoba Health, first as an Assessor and then as Chief Medical Consultant for a further 10 years. He served on boards and committees of the Manitoba Medical Services (predecessor to Medicare), the Manitoba Medical Association, CancerCare Manitoba, Canadian Cancer Society, and as President of the University of Manitoba Alumni. The highest praise a surgeon can receive is to be asked to look after the family members of the nurses and doctors with whom one works and by that measure he could be very proud of his career. The largest pile of gifts under the Christmas tree was invariably for Bob, often beautifully hand-crafted by thankful cancer survivors. He was also an admired surgical teacher and mentor and was awarded the Distinguished Medical Educator Award by the Manitoba Provincial Association of Interns and Residents. On a storied vacation from London to the Swiss Alps in 1947 he learned to ski. Childhood summers in the Qu'Appelle Valley lakes taught him to sail. Those skills were handed down with passion to his children and grandchildren. The family cabin at West Hawk Lake was a focal point in his life, where he could relax by puttering, repairing all manner of gear with epoxy and surgical tape and by sailing the Y-Flyer with trapeze and spinnaker causing happy chaos. Despite the lack of a phone or road at the cabin, patients still arrived by boat for emergency stitches and dressings produced from his black bag which was always at hand. Though a kind-hearted man, Bob rarely hesitated when asked, to offer the unvarnished truth. This led to many famous Bob anecdotes recounted by his colleagues. He had a robust sense of humour and he loved to socialize. He and Ruth enjoyed entertaining and their many years with the Dance Club. Bob was far ahead of his time as a pro-feminist, enthusiastically supporting Ruth in her return to her career as physician and professor in the 1960s. At home Ruth and Robert were sometimes indulgent parents but no mercy was given when it came to studying and marks. Dinner table conversation with the children would be a detailed critique of their homework, medicine, politics, finance or current affairs. The children benefited from the scrutiny with one obtaining a MBA and three a MD. In retirement, Bob curled and relished his current affairs discussion group. He and Ruth travelled extensively and enjoyed their beloved grandchildren. In the last decade of his life Bob dealt with increasing macular blindness and deafness with grace and patience. His children are deeply appreciative of the loyal and dear friends who continued to include Ruth and Bob in their social lives and who visited them until their very last days. The family would also like to thank the 4th floor staff at the Poseidon Personal Care Home for their kindness. Bob died three weeks after Ruth's wake. Overall, his life was one of success and great happiness. No public service will be held. Bob's ashes will be placed together with Ruth's at a fond family location. Richard Wojcik, Funeral Director of Wojcik's Funeral Home Crematorium, 204-897-4665, www.wojciksfuneralchapel.com.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Mar 02, 2013