Bob Hammel - The Bill Cook Story II: The Re-Visionary

The Bill Cook Story
II

The

THE RE-VISIONARY

The last, lasting gifts of a regenerative genius

Bob Hammel

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS

Bloomington & Indianapolis

This book is a publication of

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS

Office of Scholarly Publishing

Herman B Wells Library 350

1320 East 10th Street

Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA

iupress.indiana.edu

2015 by Bob Hammel

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481992.

Manufactured in China

Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hammel, Bob.

The Bill Cook Story II : the re-visionary / Bob Hammel.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-253-01698-0 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-253-01707-9 (ebook)

1. Cook, Bill, 19312011. 2. BillionairesMiddle WestBiography. 3. BusinessmenMiddle WestBiography. I. Title.

HC102.5.C565H362 2015

338.092dc23

[B]

2014036701

1 2 3 4 5 19 18 17 16 15

Unless otherwise noted, all images are courtesy Cook Medical or the Cook family.

Dedicated to

BILL AND GAYLE COOK

Richardsons Studio

4 FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2011
Death of a Giant

5 SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011
No Chance for Privacy

6 SATURDAY NIGHT, APRIL 16, 2011
The Show Goes On

7 SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2011
A Day of Remembering

8 MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2011
Just the Silence

9 SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2011
A Day at the Office

10 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2011
Celebrating Quite a Life

From the start, this second phase of a Bill Cook biography was the idea of Bills wife and long-time partner in business and philanthropy, Gayle. The Cooks son, Carl, provided his own variety of assistancesparticularly in bringing the charm of the Newport Hill Climb to the storyas did his wife, Marcy, whose contributions through her camera alone were invaluable.

So many more joined in selflessly along the way, manyby Cook Group preferencenamelessly, forming a team that provided every kind of help needed: physical, in terms of manpower and expertise; practical, in steering the way from idea to publication; financial, an element in being able to provide the first two. And those dont even cover another indispensable area in simple encouragement and morale.

So many others came into the picture to play major roles: Dr. Larry Rink, whose knowledge of all dimensions of Bill Cooks struggle added years for more of Bills accomplishments and enabled a better grasp for the rest of us of all that Bill overcame to keep achieving; Mike Walters, Kevin Meade, Mark Rothert, Chrissie Peterson, Tony Rolando, Carol Davis, Scott and Tracy Snowman, and Linda Woods in particular from Canton, Ill., where so many others also chipped in with special Bill Cook insights; Gunar Gruenke and the incomparable artists from Conrad Schmitt Studios, partners with the Cooks in so many marvels; Marsh Davis and Tina Connor at Indiana Landmarks, Larry and Mary Bemis at Newport, Jack Mahuron and Tracy Wells at Becks Mill, and everywhere the incomparable Pritchetts: the late Richard as well as Charlie, Joe, Jon, and all. It took several villages, and they were all thereincluding, at the end, Carolyn Walters and Bob Sloan, plus Michelle Sybert, Pamela Rude, and the rest of the Indiana University Press family who ultimately and actually made this book happen.

Theyand Iwere all arm in arm with the truly countless number of other people from Bloomington, Canton, and beyond who felt comfortable in calling and considering themselves good friends of Bill Cook. That is one big fraternity.

FOUR FRUITFUL, PHILANTHROPIC, FUTURISTIC YEARS

The basic Bill Cook story has been toldof the bright and bold (with just a touch of brash) young man who seemed headed for a career as a doctor in his pre-med days leading up to a Northwestern University degree. After military service and an introduction to life in business working for other people, at age 32, with great help from his wife Gayle, an Indiana University Phi Beta Kappa art major, he launched a medical-device manufacturing company with a $1,500 investment and built it to global, multibillion-dollar magnitude.

The biography The Bill Cook Story: Ready, Fire, Aim!, which came out in 2008, told of many other fascinating Bill Cook ventures and adventures, unveiled him as a near-peerless visionary, and introduced some unforgettable co-stars. For example, the Pritchett brothers, Richard and Charlie, who started a construction company on a shorter shoestring than Cook, once built Bill a little worktable at his request but wouldnt accept a penny back because you cant afford us, Cook. They later lived a business wonder tale of their own as the virtually designated construction company for the constantly expanding colossus that Bill Cook built.

But it was Bill Cooks company and his many interests, including the philanthropy that his business success allowed him and Gayle to engage in, that were the crux of Ready, Fire, Aim!the phrase came straight from the subject, Bills personal motto that signified his eagerness to spend more time finding out whether an idea he had was good than in testing, testing, and delaying.

For me, the most pleasing aspect of writing the book was that William Alfred Cook, a man of so very many talents and interests, was around to participate in it, to contribute greatly and vitally to it, and to enjoy itwhich I think he did.

His stories, his memories, his precepts, even his irritations were best self-described. Much would have been missing if only others had told The Bill Cook Story, if he hadnt been around to share the indescribable triumph of bringing back to life the 1900-era southern Indiana wondersthe spectacular hotels at French Lick and West Baden, if the story of his life hadnt been put together until he was no longer around to contribute to it.

I was driving to a dinner appointment in Indianapolis on Friday evening, April 15, 2011, when a cell-phone call from my wife informed me that Bill had died. Among the shock and the sadness, the flood of thoughts about so many people affected, so much one man had accomplished, so many dimensions of regret, I felt a deep gratitude to The Great Charter of all destinies that this one had worked out: Thank God we did the book when we did it.

The news that telephone call brought could hardly be termed unexpected, except it was. In the days and months immediately before his death, I was in the same building with Bill, saw him most days. Certainly I saw him aging, weakening, thinning. But I didnt see him dying. Theres a finality to death that I guess I never really saw Bill allowing, so much a man in charge of everything always. Yes, there was that time he spoke of his heart problems, the hard but life-preserving workout program his trainer Kris Gebhard put him through, the diet adjustments: