Cook served for 21 years as a county magistrate from the Fourth District, a northern section of Crittenden County, where he had lived on the family farm for decades.
First elected to the Crittenden County Fiscal Court in 1993, Cook completed his final term as magistrate in 2014.
He suffered a broken hip in a fall at the courthouse a couple of weeks ago. Friends said he developed pneumonia after hip surgery and passed away late Friday afternoon.
The Press will have a complete obituary in next week's newspaper.
