Paul M. Cook (April 25, 1924 – December 14, 2020) was an American businessman who was the founder and CEO of

Raychem The Raychem Corporation was founded in Redwood City, California, in 1957 by Paul M. Cook, James B. Meikle, and Richard W. Muchmore. Led by Cook and second-in-command Robert M. Halperin, Raychem became a pioneer of commercial products realized thr ...

, a chemical manufacturing company that reached $2 billion in annual revenue. In 1988, he was awarded the

National Medal of Technology The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

" r his vision and entrepreneurial efforts, his technical accomplishments and his business and technical leadership as the key contributor in creating a worldwide chemically based industry."

Early life and education

Paul Cook took an early interest in chemistry, and developed a chemistry lab in the basement of his parents' home. After he graduated high school in 1941, he started at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT), studying chemical engineering under

Warren K. Lewis Warren Kendall Lewis (21 August 1882 – 9 March 1975) was an MIT professor who has been called the father of modern chemical engineering. He co-authored an early major textbook on the subject which essentially introduced the concept of unit opera ...

. In 1943, Cook enlisted in the United States Army and enrolled in the Army Specialized Training Program; through that program, he attended Stanford University for two terms, studying mechanical engineering. Cook was then sent to Hunter Liggett Military Reservation and then Fort Benning, where he completed Officer Candidate School. He was then sent to fight in Italy. Cook served in combat with the

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...

. In 1946, Cook left the army and worked for Submarine Signal in Boston. He then returned to MIT and completed his Bachelor of Science in 1947.

Career

Cook was one of

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...

's earliest employees, joining the organization in 1948 as its 48th employee. He went on to lead SRI's

Radiation Chemistry Radiation chemistry is a subdivision of nuclear chemistry which is the study of the chemical effects of radiation on matter; this is very different from radiochemistry as no radioactivity needs to be present in the material which is being chemically ...

Laboratory, where he was interested in using high-energy electrons to alter polymers. In 1951, Cook founded the Sequoia Process Corporation; he left that after five years to found

, which opened in 1957, and focused on commercial applications for radiochemistry. He served as Raychem's CEO and chairman of the board. Cook founded other companies, including CellNet Data Systems, DIVA Systems (1995), and Promptu.

Awards and memberships

Cook served on SRI International's board of directors for nine years and served as its chairman for six of those. In 1986, he was awarded the Winthrop-Sears Medal from the Chemical Industry Association. In 1988, Ronald Reagan awarded him the

. He received the

Bay Area Council The Bay Area Council is a business association in San Francisco, founded in 1945, and dedicated to economic development in the San Francisco Bay Area. At its inception in the post WWII years, members included Wells Fargo, Bank of America, the ...

's Bay Area Business Hall of Fame Award in 1999, and SRI's Weldon B. "Hoot" Gibson Achievement Award in 2008.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Paul M. 1924 births 2020 deaths 21st-century American chemists United States Army personnel of World War II Directors of SRI International Military personnel from New Jersey MIT School of Engineering alumni National Medal of Technology recipients People from Ridgewood, New Jersey SRI International people