“The best chief is not the one who persuades people to his point of view. It is instead the one in whose presence most people find it easiest to arrive at the truth.”
- Nia:wen, Te honie ien
Solomon “Sol” Cook ’38, M.S. ’42, Ph.D. ’50, the first Native American to receive a doctorate degree from Cornell, has been remembered as a lifelong learner, educator and leader who was often called upon for sage and wise counsel regarding farming, life and business. The Akwesasne native died on April 1, at the age of 94.
The proud Mohawk elder – and St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Chief from 1977-1980 - grew up on a farm with seven siblings, and paid his own way through Cornell by doing housework and chores for the family that provided him board.
His maternal grandfather, a self-taught scholar, suggested his biblical name.
“I don’t know if it was my name that did it or not, but I made up my mind early on that I was going to get a first-rate education,” Cook once told an historian. “Later, I had an inspiring high school teacher who told me I could do anything I put my mind to.”
Cook, in turn, inspired countless other native and non-native students, as a teacher and guidance counselor for 30 years, at Barker High School and Salmon River Central School. He also taught briefly as an assistant professor at South Dakota State University, and served in the U.S. Navy as an instrument technician on the USS Vulcan in 1944; he saw duty in the Pacific Theater, entering Hiroshima shortly after VJ Day.
Not satisfied with simply teaching agriculture, Cook was an active farmer and researcher, pursuing improvements in cash crop farming and helping other growers in the region improve their farming techniques. In 1954, he established Marian Farms in Akwesanse, where he lived and prospered until his death.
As a tribal leader, Cook played a crucial role in helping his community recover from a serious period of unrest, despite threats to his own life. He also donated land to the reservation for the construction of a library.
Cook was an active member of the Farm Bureau and a popular judge for 4-H competitions. He also loved to tell a tale, and was well respected for his intellect, generosity, detailed memory of names, events, plant horticulture, tribal culture and lore, and curiosity.
He was a fervent proponent of education as a transformative process, and backed it up with financial and moral support throughout his life, including the establishment of the Solomon Cook Award for Engaged Research and Scholarship at Cornell, and the Dr. Solomon Cook Scholarship at SUNY Canton, where he served on the College Council from 1978 to 1989.
Among many distinctions, Cook received a Kateri Tekakwitha Award and an Outstanding Alumni Award from CALS in 1992.
