Carlton Lee Cooke (born 1944)[2] is an American politician and businessman who served as the 52nd mayor of Austin from 1988 to 1991.

[5] Cooke served as an Air Force intelligence officer during the Vietnam War and received the Bronze Star Medal.

[citation needed] Cooke served on Austin City Council for two terms from 1977 until 1981 leading the modern plan which revitalized downtown.

[4] Describing himself as a "conservative businessman",[6] Cooke's highlights included a new convention center, expansion by Motorola (NXP), IBM and AMD, the approval of 44 miles of freeway, refocus location of the airport to the closing Bergstrom AFB site and creation of the Austin Technology Incubator during his tenure as mayor.

During his tenure, a new strategy for a more diverse economy with emphasis on technology research, software development, music-film-conventions in addition to government, education and services was adopted.