Bob Cook at a Community and Senior Center event on Oct. 17, 2021. Jay Aldrich | Special to The R-C
If there was a volunteer position in Douglas County, Bob Cook probably filled it over the past 40 years.
On Thursday, Douglas County commissioner Wes Rice called for a moment of silence in memory of Cook, who died as a result of a fall over the New Year’s weekend.
Cook started volunteering for the Zephyr Cove Ski Club in 1981 as a chaperone because he wanted his son to learn the right way to ski from one of Heavenly’s instructors.
“Children don’t always learn best from their parents,” he said.
A Vietnam veteran, the family moved to Lake Tahoe in 1971, when he went to work for Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District.
He moved to Zephyr Cove to be a firefighter and bomb squad technician as soon as he got out of the service.
Cook only worked for the district for three years, but he remained involved in the fire district for a half century.
He worked for United Parcel Service for 27 years. Cook received a kidney donation in 2007, and was able to give up dialysis.
He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Douglas County Senior Center and the first president of the Douglas County Community Services Foundation, founded to support both centers.
Even before then, he was ubiquitous.
At the time of his death, he was an elected supervisor of the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District and a trustee for the Tahoe Douglas Senior Center.
He served on the Kingsbury General Improvement District for 21 years, serving five four-year terms. He was also a trustee on the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District between 1992 and 2008.
He also served with the Chimney Rock Chapter of the Nevada Fire Safe Council for seven years.
No services for Cook have yet been announced.
