Joseph William Cook, Iii

Joseph W. Cook III was born on October 7, 1936 in Baltimore.  His parents were Joseph W Cook II, and Jane Gorman Cook.  He grew up on his family's farm on Cooks Lane in what is now West Baltimore.  The family owned a florist business, his great grandfather was John Cook, who first developed Hybrid Tea roses.  He attended the old Cathedral school in downtown Baltimore, and then attended Mount Saint Joseph high school, where he graduated in 1955.  He attended Mount St. Mary's college, and graduated in 1959.  He enlisted in the United States Navy, and served as a radio communicator on the Essex in the Atlantic theater in the early 1960s.  After being discharged, his lifelong friend, Jim Gary, introduced him to Mary Kathleen Conway, a nursing colleague of his wife Tolley, and they were married in 1962.  He started in the early 1960s with Nationwide Insurance, and worked initially as a claims negotiator.  He later graduated from University of Maryland law school, and presided over arbitration hearings, and then was a manager in insurance sales.  He retired from Nationwide in 1998.  In the early 1980s, he and Jim Gary began refereeing football games with Catonsville Youth League.  They started doing high school football games and joined the Maryland Board of Football Officials, with which he was associated for 40 years.  In 2003, he served as the President of the Board, and was awarded the A. Paul Milton Memorial award.  He served as part of the sideline officiating team for the University of Maryland football program, later operating the scoreboard game clock.  He also worked with the sideline team for the Ravens for the first 20 years of their existence, doing his last game at the age of 80.  He also officiated track meets for high school and college, including many Army-Navy track meets.

He is survived by his best friend, and wife, Kay, son Billy and wife Liz, daughter Patty and husband Andy, and daughter Sheila and husband Pete.  He is also survived by his grandchildren, Shannon, Ellen, Joseph V, Greg, Patrick, Michael, and Drew. He was also very proud of his great granddaughters, Mary Kate and Millie.