René Cook

A funeral service will be held in the Sanctuary of Abraham and Sarah Mausoleum Chapel at Cedar Park Cemetery, 735 Forest Avenue, Paramus, New Jersey on Friday, June 26 at 10:15 AM, with Rabbi Jason Fenster of Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, New York officiating the service. Burial will immediately follow at Beth El Cemetery (on the same grounds of Cedar Park Cemetery).

René was born in Brooklyn, New York to Samuel and Viola Wax on October 29, 1929. She married her husband Joseph "Joe" Cook on June 4, 1949 and lived with their three children in Brooklyn, where she worked part-time in a clothing store. She and Joe moved to New Jersey in 1996 to enjoy their retirement years and be closer to their children and grandchildren. René had a wide circle of friends across her life and spent many happy hours chatting with them on the phone, playing mahjong and canasta, and trading books and gossip over a glass (or two) of cold Chardonnay.

She was a devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who loved nothing more than attending the birthday parties, plays, concerts, sports matches, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, graduation ceremonies, and weddings of her family and friends. With great-grandchildren ranging in age from 4 to 22, René was, even at 96, able to celebrate her eldest great-grandchild’s college graduation this spring, an unbelievable milestone and a mark of a long, well-lived life. She enjoyed telling everyone she knew about her children and their children’s many accomplishments.

René is survived by her three children Janet Blau, Lori Schwartz, Howard Cook and his wife Amy; her six grandchildren Michelle Kroin and her husband David, Erica Locks and her husband Brian, Andrew Blau and his wife Linda, Jaimee Oberfest and her husband Mark, Dr. Joshua Cook and his husband Forewing Lum, and Taylor Cook and her husband Lars-Patrik Röller; and her nine great-grandchildren Samuel, Julia, and Theodore Kroin; Brady Locks; Charlie and AJ Blau; Owen and Ryan Oberfest; and Arielle Röller.

René was preceded in death by her husband Joe Cook, her parents Samuel and Viola Wax, and her brother Jerry Wax.

Donations may be made in her memory to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (https://give.mskcc.org/site/Donation2). The family wishes to extend their gratitude to all of the doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals who cared for Rene through the years.