Rest in Peace

President Cook was a big man on campus. When I went to Biola he was pretty easy to pick out. Hard to miss a guy that stood, literally, head and shoulders above the rest of the campus population. Plus, everyone knew who Clyde was. He spoke in chapel from time to time and always had great things to say. He was also one of the funnier people ever to speak to the students. Most speakers tried to be funny but failed miserably. Clyde was just himself and had students rolling in laughter.

I had lunch with him several times. He would often go to the student cafeteria to have lunch. He’d quietly, unassumingly, go through the line, get his lunch like everyone else and sit down at an empty table. For some reason people rarely sat down with him. I always thought it was sad to see the University president eating by himself so I’d just tell whoever I was with we’d be eating with Clyde that day. He was great company over lunch. He’d be interested in how our classes were, how our time at Biola was going and inevitably he’d share a great story.

I got so used to him being “Clyde” rather than “President Cook” that when walking past the administration building one day with my buddy Konrad, I just said “Hey Clyde” as President Cook walked by. He said hi and kept walking. A moment later Konrad freaked out saying “You can’t call him that! He’s the president of the university!” I don’t know if that says more about me and the lack of awareness I had that day or how personable and cool Clyde Cook was.

You can read all about all the things he accomplished by clicking on the picture above. If you don’t have the time, believe me when I tell you that he accomplished a ton in his tenure at Biola.

Heaven is getting a great, great man. Not a doubt in my mind that God will be sitting down with him and telling him “Great job my good and faithful servant.”