Educator, activist, author and political scientist. Former president of Dillard University in New Orleans and first African-American faculty member of Duke University. He grew up instilled by his father with a passion for education, which had a deep impact on him. Cook entered Morehouse in 1943 with his friend Martin Luther King Jr., whom he met in junior high school. Both were 15, participating in an early-admission program that helped fill the Atlanta college's classrooms during World War II. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from Morehouse in 1948 and went on to Ohio State University, where he earned a master's degree in political science and a Ph.D. After college, he started his professional career as a teacher after a short stint in the U.S. Army. He taught political science at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1955. He then moved to Atlanta University where he began teaching in 1956, and became politically active. He worked on black voter registration and served as youth director of the NAACP of Georgia. During his career, Cook taught at other colleges and universities including the University of Illinois, University of California – Los Angeles, and Duke University, where he became the University’s first African-American professor. He was also the first African-American to hold a regular faculty appointment at a predominantly white university in the South. In 1974, he was chosen as president of Dillard University; he filled this role for twenty-two years, retiring in 1997. He was credited with beginning the modernization of Dillard University’s infrastructure. In 1993, Dillard University honored Cook by naming the school’s new fine arts and communication center after him. That same year, he was elected by Duke University’s Board of Trustee as a Trustee Emeritus. Duke University again honored him with the establishment of the Samuel DuBois Cook Society in 1997; the society aims to celebrate and support African American students at the university through programming and scholarships. In 2006, Duke University established a postdoctoral fellowship in his name to support social scientists that study issues related to race, ethnicity, and gender. In 2015, Duke dedicated the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity in his honor. The Ohio State University has established the Samuel DuBois Cook Summer Academy and the Samuel DuBois Cook graduate fellowship in Political Science. After retirement, Cook continued to lecture at universities and colleges around the country and served on the board of trustees of The King Center in Atlanta since its founding in 1968. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the prestigious National Council on the Humanities and President Bill Clinton appointed him to the historic United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Cook was also the first black president of the Southern Political Science Association and served as a former vice-president of the American Political Science Association. He is a former president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc., and former chair of the Presidents of the United Negro College Fund. He was the author or editor of numerous scholarly publications, including Black-Jewish Relations: Dillard University National Conference Papers, 1989-1997. A publication on Benjamin E. Mays: His Life, Contributions, and Legacy, written about the inspirational and pioneering former president of Morehouse College. Cook was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and was a Korean War veteran. He held honorary degrees from Morehouse College, The Ohio State University, Dillard University, Illinois College, Duke University, the University of New Orleans and Chicago Theological Seminary. Cook passed away at age 88. He was remembered by hundreds at his funeral as an inspirational educator, a champion of connecting racial and ethnic communities, and a devoted friend and family man.


“Aim high, reach for the stars, burn the midnight oil, and give life your best shot.”
-Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook