Terence James Cooke (March 1, 1921 – October 6, 1983) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of New York from 1968 until his death, quietly battling leukemia throughout his tenure.

[1] His parents were both from County Galway, Ireland, and named their son after Terence MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork who died on a hunger strike during the Irish War of Independence.

[1] Cooke then served as chaplain for St. Agatha's Home for Children in Nanuet, New York,[4] until 1947, when he moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue graduate studies at The Catholic University of America.

[2] When he returned to New York, Cooke was assigned to serve as a curate at St. Athanasius Parish in the Bronx, while working with the Catholic Youth Organization.

He received his episcopal consecration on December 13, 1965 from Cardinal Spellman at St. Patrick's Cathedral, with Archbishops Joseph McGucken and John Maguire serving as co-consecrators.

[4] Cooke played a prominent role in arranging Pope Paul's visit to New York in October 1965,[3] and became Vicar General of the Archdiocese two days after his consecration, on December 15, 1965.

[6] Pope Paul's selection of Cooke came as a surprise; likely contenders for the post included Fulton J. Sheen, a television personality and Bishop of Rochester; and Archbishop Maguire, who had been Spellman's coadjutor.

[6] That same day as Cooke's installation, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, leading to a nationwide wave of riots in more than 100 cities.

[11] Pope Paul VI appointed him as Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Rome (the traditional titular church of the New York archbishops starting in 1946) in the consistory of April 28, 1969.

[4] In 1974, Cooke went to the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he attended lectures on the Second Vatican Council given by his future successor, Father Edward Egan.

On April 14, 2010, the Guild and senior American clergy presented Pope Benedict XVI with the positio, the documentation of the cardinal's life, work, and virtues.

[32] During a 1968 Central Park anti-war rally by Coretta Scott King he organized a small counter demonstration in support of the Vietnam War.

[34] Cooke was an outspoken opponent of abortion rights, which he called the "slaughter of the innocent unborn",[35] and once served as chairman of the USCCB's Pro-Life Committee.