Richard W. Cook
Encyclopedia
Richard W. Cook was born in Muskegon, Michigan
Muskegon, Michigan
Muskegon is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 38,401. The city is the county seat of Muskegon County...

. From 1927 to 1933, he attended Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

.

In 1940 he was ordered to active duty in the U.S. Army as a First Lieutenant and from 1940 to 1942 served as Assistant Quartermaster and Quartermaster for the Construction Division of the Quartermaster Corps. From 1942 to 1944 he was area engineer for Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

, Washington Engineer District.

Cook was involved with U.S. atomic energy. From 1944 to 1947, Cook was Assistant to District Engineer and K-25 Operations Officer, Corps of Engineers, Manhattan Engineer District, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...

, and from 1947 to 1951 he was Deputy Manager and General Manager of Oak Ridge Operations, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). In the fall of 1945, while still at Oak Ridge, Lt. Col. Richard W. Cook was awarded the Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...

 for his work on the A-Bomb Project.

From 1951 to 1958 he was employed at AEC headquarters in Washington, D.C. He was made Director of Production and in 1954 promoted to Deputy General Manager of the AEC.

From 1958 to 1973 Cook was employed as an executive at American Machine and Foundry Company and at the Marshall Space Flight Center
Marshall Space Flight Center
The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. The largest center of NASA, MSFC's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo moon program...

. He was employed at AMF while it was producing components for the Atlas and Titan missile systems and he was at Marshall Space Flight Center during the height of the Apollo Program.

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