Jeffry Roy Cook

He was educated at Lexington High School and Hebron Academy, where he graduated in 1968. Jeff went on to earn a BA in Religion from Dartmouth College in 1972. Changing gears, he then pursued graduate studies at the University of Illinois, earning a PhD in Molecular Biology.

Jeff held postdoctoral research positions at The Jackson Laboratory, the University of Vermont, and the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center in Lake Placid before moving to New Jersey, where he worked for many years as a research scientist in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. During the final years of his career, Jeff continued his research at a small private laboratory, Mycometrics, in South Brunswick.

Jeff is survived by his wife, Leslie Phillips Cook; his daughter, Robin Phillips Carver; his son-in-law, Sean Carver; and his two grandchildren, Westley and Ruby Carver. He will also be dearly missed by his brother, Cyrus Cook, and sister-in-law, Megan Shea, of Wallingford, as well as by his niece and nephew, Emma and Eben Cook.

In retirement, Jeff enjoyed spending time at his lifelong lakeside camp in Norway, going for boat rides, following the travails of the Boston Celtics, and spending time with his family.

He will be forever remembered for his genuine kindness to all living things, especially his gifts of cheese and crackers to the many family canine rescues over the years. He will also be remembered for his unwavering loyalty to his green Super Beetle, which he could never give up on, the gene discoveries he made in pursuit of bettering human lives, and his grumbling, which we believe was always well-placed and deserved, especially while driving over the George Washington Bridge.

We will miss you, Grampy.