Joseph Crawford Crawford Cook

A memorial service for Crawford Cook, originally planned for the Williams Brice Stadium, will be held at noon on Saturday, October 22, 2016, at Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel. The visitation will be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Friday, October 21, 2016, at the funeral home. He passed away Sunday morning October 16, 2016 after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, Shelia Phillips Cook; daughters, Christie V. Sellars (William) of Spartanburg, Cheryl V. Savage (Andy) of Charleston, Angela A. Cook of Nashville, Tennessee, Lara Hobby Covlin (Michael) of Belleville, Illinois; and son, Sean C. Cook of Wilmington, North Carolina. Proudly, he is survived by grandchildren, Brady Crawford Hobby and Sydney Alexandra Hobby of Belleville, Illinois, Andrew Savage II (Ashlyn) of Charleston and Heywood Moore, Jr. (Nancy) of Manning, Katie Sellars Johnson (Kyle) of Columbia and Patrick Sellars of Columbia. His great-grandchildren are Andrew Savage and Thomas Savage of Charleston and Ella and Wallis Johnson of Columbia and Heyward Moore, II and Emma Moore of Manning. Additionally, he is survived by a gaggle of friends, young and old. Cook spent the majority of his professional life in and around politics and politicians. Early in his career, he covered the South Carolina state legislature for United Press International and was Vice President for Public Relations for the South Carolina Municipal Association. Crawford c0-founded the advertising firm Cook-Ruef & Associates, one of the nation’s first successful national political consulting firms and served as its Chair and Chief Executive Officer for more than thirty years. He advised Democratic candidates across the nation, including former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Among his international clients was Saudi Arabia, which employed him in 1978 to represent the kingdom’s interests in the United States. Crawford took great pride in leading the campaigns which elected Ernest “Fritz” Hollings to the United States Senate and John C. West Governor of South Carolina. He considered his signature professional accomplishments to be the successful campaigns to elect the first two African Americans since Reconstruction, Representatives I.S. Leevy Johnson and Jim Felder, to the South Carolina General Assembly. He was an early supporter and close confident to James H. Hodges who described Cook as a “terrific, sensible, smart person who cared about South Carolinians.” He was awarded the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor by Governor John C. West for guiding legislative efforts to make Winthrop University a co-educational institution and to create a second medical school at the University of South Carolina. Crawford was born in Charleston, South Carolina on October 9, 1934, the son of Genevieve Sturken Cook and J. Crawford Cook, Jr. He attended parochial schools in Charleston and graduated from the College of Charleston where he played basketball. He served as a trustee for the Winthrop University Foundation and for the Southern Center for International Studies in Atlanta. His biggest regret was failing to break 80 on the golf course. Memorials may be made to the charity of one’s choice or to Smile Train at 41 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010, the Hollings Library at the University of South Carolina at 1322 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 20208; or to Winthrop University at 701 Oakland Avenue in Rock Hill, SC 29733.