Dave Cooke

Dave Cooke (born August 1, 1952) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was an NDP member of the provincial legislature from 1977 to 1997, and was a senior cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae.

Background

Cooke was born in Windsor, Ontario, the son of Sid and Betty Cooke. He attended the University of Windsor and graduated with a degree in social work. He worked as a social worker at the Essex Children's Aid Society in Windsor. He served on the Windsor Planning Board in 1974 and was a member of the Windsor Board of Education from 1975 to 1976.

Politics

He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the general election of 1977, defeating Liberal Michael MacDougall by over 2,000 votes in the riding of Windsor—Riverside. He was re-elected by greater margins in the elections of 1981, 1985, 1987 and 1990. Cooke defeated future Liberal MP Rick Limoges by almost 6,000 votes in 1987.

Unlike most other members of the NDP caucus, Cooke was supportive of Bob Rae's leadership throughout the 1980s. As early as 1981, he had petitioned Rae to run for the leadership of the provincial party. He became the party's whip in 1985 and acted as the health critic. In 1987, he was appointed as the party's House leader, and became pensions critic.

Dave Cooke (businessman)

Dave Cooke (born c. 1954) is the founder of two charities: Operation Christmas Child and Teams4U.

Cooke founded the charity Operation Christmas Child (now Samaritan's Purse) in 1990 and developed, then worked for, the biggest shoebox program in the world.

Early Years

Dave was born in Chester, the second child of John and Ruth Cooke. His father worked in sales and his mother ran the household. Dave was brought up in the Exclusive Brethren church but found growing up in the Brethren very restrictive and rebelled from an early age.

He attended Hoole Secondary Modern but left at the age of 14 with no qualifications and several brushes with the law. Mr Fox, his headteacher at the time said “Cooke, you will never achieve anything with your life.”

Cooke trained to be a Joiner and had his own Glazing Company.

In 1981 Dave had his own kitchen design and fitting business which failed in less than two years. He then went on to establish a window installation company which grew nationally and was bought out in 1986. From 1986 Dave worked as a Contracts Manager for Rowcroft Windows until 1995 when he became a Projects Manager and Children’s Advocate for Samaritan’s Purse.