[1] Cook received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1952.

He served as officer in the signal corps of the United States Army from 1952 to 1954.

He received a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1957.

He was a Special Assistant State Attorney General of Michigan from 1968 until his appointment to the federal bench in 1978.

[2] On July 25, 1978, President Jimmy Carter nominated Cook to a seat vacated by Judge Lawrence Gubow on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.