Rodney Mims Cook (March 23, 1924 – January 13, 2013) was an American politician who served for over twenty years as Atlanta alderman and member of the Georgia House of Representatives.

Her grandfather's farm, called Red Oak, was destroyed by the invading army of General William T. Sherman during the Siege of Atlanta and the March to the Sea.

Cook attended Washington and Lee University and graduated valedictorian and summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947.

[1][2] Upon leaving the military, Cook returned to Georgia and later, with Robert Mathis built the Peachtree Planning Corporation, an insurance company.

[2] In 1962, Cook made a speech in the Georgia State Capitol to take down the "Peyton Wall," a barrier that was built to stop black citizens from moving into a white section of Atlanta.

He encouraged Atlanta citizens to participate in urban renewal and contested systems that discriminated against minorities, particularly in regard to housing rules.

[1] He was one of just five white representatives (out of 205) who voted to seat the duly elected African American candidate Julian Bond in the state legislature in 1966.

[1] Cook was the lieutenant of Mayor's William B. Hartsfield and Ivan Allen, shepherding federal and state funding to the City of Atlanta resulting in unprecedented growth during the 1960s and 1970s.

Cook championed the careers of Paul Coverdell and Newt Gingrich, later a United States senator and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.

His funeral service was scheduled for January 19 at the Millennium Gate and Museum at Atlantic Station, to be followed by entombment in the Mims family vault at the Westview Abbey Mausoleum.

Several fire engines and police cars were part of the funeral motorcade to Westview Abby Mausoleum where Cook was laid to rest in the Mims Family vault.