Donald Joseph Cook

Donald Joseph “Don” Cook was born July 22, 1947, at Columbia Hospital for Women, Washington, D.C., the fifth of eight children of Coleman and Marion (Ervin) Cook of Kensington, Md. After a long and productive life, he was diagnosed in 2023 with colon cancer. He underwent treatment, recovered for a while until it became active again in 2025, and finally succumbed to it on March 22, 2026. He was 78. In his final months he was visited frequently by many of his siblings. With him at the end were his sister Charlotte, brother Dave and Dave’s wife Cynthia. Through it all he remained positive and upbeat. As his brother Dave explained it to granddaughter Brea, “Don is really sick, but someone forgot to tell him!”

Don grew up in Kensington, attended Holy Redeemer Catholic School and graduated from Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, Wheaton, Md., 1965.

He began attending classes at the University of Maryland, College Park, 1965; worked at several part-time jobs; moved variously to Adelphi, Hyattsville, Rockville, and Gaithersburg, Md. While in Hyattsville he started building cabinetry, which he pursued for many years at shops throughout the D.C. area. He earned a B.A. degree in Studio Art from the University of Maryland, 1983.

In 1985 he moved to Chillum, Md., and began taking courses at the University of Maryland again, this time in Computer Science.

While taking classes, he continued working in cabinetry and worked part-time at the Office of Management & Budget as a student programmer. He earned a B.S. degree in Computer Science, University of Maryland, 1989.

In 1990 he began working for a contractor at the U.S. Commerce Dept., Washington, D.C., programming a database to track export licenses for controlled items; that contract ended in 1992. He continued building cabinetry, and began working at his brother Dave’s renovation firm, D. P. Cook Construction, on projects at the National Institutes of Health and other commercial and residential sites.

Don cared for his mother since his father died in 1988. He cultivated a large garden in the yard, providing fresh vegetables for family and friends. His sister Charlotte joined them in 2003; their mother died in 2006. When the house was sold, Don moved to an apartment in another part of Kensington.

In 2008 he began studying Computer Science again, this time at Montgomery College, Rockville, and was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, the two-year-college honor society.

In 2011 he began managing an early-morning newspaper route for the Washington Post. In 2014 he moved to Gaithersburg, and in 2020 to Rockville, Md. He had other jobs at the Post and created delivery labels used for apartment building deliveries. After his illness made it too difficult to go to the office Don continued doing his job from home. He worked until two nights before his death.

Over the years his interests included gardening, breadmaking, swing dancing, and programming applications for smartphones such as the Apple iPhone. His love for woodworking showed he was his father’s son!

He was predeceased by his parents, his nephew Tony Went and his niece Katherine Cook. He is survived by his sisters Joan, Cincinnati OH; Phyllis (Mike), Charlotte Hall MD; Charlotte, Wheaton MD; and Martha (Bob), Cumberland RI; by his brothers Pete (Marilyn), Phoenix AZ; David (Cynthia), Poolesville MD; and Richard, Conway AR; and by many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Wednesday, April 1, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 12319 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, Md.