Pentagon ‘mayor’ dies from injuries sustained in car crash

David O. Cooke

David O. "Doc" Cooke, a longtime career civil servant known as the "mayor of the Pentagon," died June 22 from injuries suffered two weeks ago in a car accident near Charlottesville, Va. Cooke, 81, died at 1:40 p.m. Saturday at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville where he was admitted on June 6 after losing control of his 1998 Ford and running off the road. He was the director of administration and management at the Defense Department. Cooke's death ended a 44-year career in administration and management at the 280-acre Pentagon complex, where he steadfastly served more than a dozen Defense secretaries, most of whom took the oath of office from the former Navy captain. Cooke managed some 1,800 employees, controlled 20,000 parking spaces, ran a quality-management unit and directed organizational and management planning for the Defense Department. "He was a fierce believer in and protector of the civil services, and whenever a new administration came in that wasn't respectful of the career service, Doc just made sure that the career civil servants were protected long enough for the new administration to learn on its own how valuable they are," said Bob Stone, a partner at the private consulting firm Public Strategies Group, and former project director of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government. "I think that was the major part of his legacy." The road to becoming the ballast for the Pentagon was a long and winding one for Cooke. Cooke aspired to be a teacher, like his parents, earning a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master's degree from SUNY Albany. After serving in World War II, he taught high school in his native Buffalo. In 1947, he began law school, and met and married Marion McDonald before accepting an offer to become a civilian employee of the Navy in Washington, D.C. He earned a law degree from The George Washington University in 1950. The Korean War drew Cooke back to active duty, where he served as an instructor at the School of Naval Justice. That led to a stint as a maritime lawyer for the Navy. He was reassigned to the Judge Advocate General's Washington staff and, in 1958, he joined Defense Secretary Neil McElroy's task force on reorganizing the department, remaining at the Pentagon for the next 44 years. Dubbed the "mayor of the Pentagon," Cooke oversaw the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Supply Agency, the Defense Investigative Service and the Defense Mapping Agency. Cooke, described by many as caring and diplomatic, realized his job would require a thorough understanding of the theory and practice of management, as well as good basic common sense. "People constitute our most important resource, and so often, we treat them like dirt," he told Government Executive in 1995. A true good government advocate, Cooke took an interest in the broader questions of management that preoccupy those who care about the future of the public sector. He was an active member of both the American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration, and a supporter of Public Service Recognition Week. "It's a great tragedy," NAPA President Robert O'Neill said Monday. "He is a personal and institutional treasure. If you just think of all the people that he has been mentor to, who have been in and out of the federal government, he has had an extraordinary legacy, and he will be greatly missed." Cooke was a supporter of the Federal Executive Institute and of American University's Key Executive Program, a master's program in public administration for government employees, but his hard work didn't end inside government walls. He helped create a Public Service Academy at Anacostia High School in Southeast Washington for disadvantaged students. Federal agencies now lend three managers to the academy each year to work with the faculty in establishing curriculum, arranging visits to and internships at government offices, coordinating special events and offering counseling to students and their families. Pentagon officials recognized Cooke's contribution to the agency's success by awarding him the Defense Department Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service seven times. He received both the Defense Department Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Defense Department Medal for Outstanding Public Service twice. His other honors included the 1994 NAACP Benjamin Hooks Distinguished Service Award, the 1995 Government Executive Leadership Award, the 1995 Presidential Distinguished Rank Award, the 1997 National Public Service Award, the 1998 President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, and the 2000 John O. Marsh Public Service Award. "Doc stands as a consummate professional and role model for reliability, integrity and teamwork," former Secretary of Defense William Cohen said in January 1999 before presenting Cooke with the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service. "He not only accepts challenges, he genuinely loves not only working with people but managing them. And regardless of how large his role, when something succeeds he is the first one to give praise and give credit to his colleagues."