James Cook Jr.

1924 - 2015

James Cook Jr.

Chester, VA (formerly of LaCrosse, VA) - James Bryan Cook, Jr., of Chester, son of the late James Bryan Cook and Maude Moseley Cook, passed away on Feb. 15, 2015. He was predeceased by a brother, William Manning Cook. He was born on February 3, 1924, in La Crosse, Virginia, and was a 1940 graduate of La Crosse High School. In 1944, he was graduated from Wake Forest College, where he was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity. He earned a master's degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1948 and a master's degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School in 1960. He was an instructor in chemistry at Wake Forest College from 1944-46. From 1947 to 1958, he was assistant to the bursar of Wake Forest College and from 1960 to 1967 he was assistant treasurer and secretary of the Board of Trustees. From 1967 to 2004, he was employed by the Virginia Division of the Budget, now the Department of Planning and Budget, as a budget analyst and later as Senior Advisor. He received the George A . Bell Award from the National Association of State Budget Officers in 1999. He was a parishioner of St. John's Episcopal Church, Chester, Va and was a member of the vestry, senior warden, chairman of the finance committee and a member of the Executive Board of the Diocese of Southern Virginia. Mr. Cook was a member of the Jamestowne Society, the Virginia Historical Society, the Chesterfield County Historical Society, and Preservation Virginia. He was devoted to his home town of La Crosse, Virginia, and was a member of its Centennial Committee from 1999 to 2004. He was a co-author of the History of the Town of La Crosse, published in 2011.

He is survived by his sister, Mrs. Page Cook Axson McGaughy of Norfolk, Virginia, his brother-in-law, Dr. O. P. Delcambre, of Norfolk, his brother and sister-in-law, Walter Blackwell Cook and Grace Tumlin Cook of Clemson, South Carolina, three nephews: Peter Madison Axson, III, and wife Joy of Chesapeake, Virginia; Walter Blackwell Cook, Jr., of Chicago, Illinois, and James Crawford Cook and wife Nancy of Greenwich, Connecticut, and three nieces: Katherine Axson Keel of Chase City, Virginia, Elizabeth Page Axson of Chesapeake, Virginia, and Elizabeth Cook Harmon and husband Douglas of Darien, Connecticut, six great-nephews and five great-nieces and devoted friends Ruth and Robert McNeil of Chester.

A graveside service will be held at the family plot in La Crosse Cemetery, La Crosse, Virginia on March 7, 2015 at 11am. Memorial considerations may be made to St. John's Episcopal Church, P. O. Box 3886, Chester, Virginia 23831, La Crosse United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 279, La Crosse, Virginia 23950, La Crosse Baptist Church, P. O. Box 40, LaCrosse, Virginia 23950, Olive Branch Baptist Church, 5223 Blackridge Road, LaCrosse, Virginia 23950 or the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be emailed to www.farrarfuneralhome.net. Farrar Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.