As a child, he moved to Northern Ireland with his parents and sisters after his father was appointed headmaster of Campbell College in 1954.
[8] In 1978, he became the first non-Unionist Lord Mayor of Belfast since William James Pirrie, a Home Rule Liberal, in 1896–1898.
[3] In 1994, Cook became the Chairman of the Police Authority of Northern Ireland, but he was sacked from this role in 1996 after losing a vote of confidence.
[12] After a critical account of his role in an internal row in that authority appeared in newspapers in 1998, he undertook a lengthy libel case which was ultimately settled out of court.
[16] He was survived by his wife Fionnuala, his sisters Alison and Nora, his daughter Barbary, his sons John, Patrick, Julius, and Dominic, and his granddaughters Romy and Imogen.