You can extend your condolences to the family of Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke, by adding your comments below this obituary. The Kent Reporter will forward whatever it receives to any of the Cooke family members who would like them.

Our thoughts and wishes go with the Cooke family.

David James Cooke

Oct. 29, 1940 – June 17, 2009

David Cooke died on the evening of June 17, 2009 at his residence in Kent. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Suzette Allen Cooke, his two sons, James, 43, and Steven, 41, and his grandchildren Brandyn, 9, and Chelsea Marie Cooke, 6. David is also survived by two brothers, Charles and Jack, and one sister, Edith Erb, in Vancouver, B.C.

Cooke was born in Vancouver, to English immigrants Cyril and Doreen Cooke. As a youth, he was active in sports and worked for the Vancouver Sun as a paperboy. After secondary school, he began working for the Vancouver Sun full-time. Cooke immigrated to the United States in 1970 and accepted the position of circulation manager at Fournier Newspapers in Kent, eventually working up to the position of general manager. Following his work at Fournier Newspapers, he managed the Northwest Region of ADVO Systems.

In 1983 David became president and owner of ESP Printing/Mailing, Inc. Over 26 years, the company grew from 4 employees to more than 60, many of whom worked with Cooke for many years. He was grateful for the loyalty of his staff and cared deeply for them.

Besides Cooke's passion for the printing business, he was an avid sportsman. He loved fishing, boating, golfing, sports of every stripe, duck hunting and horse racing. In his early 20s, he played goalie on the semi-professional Canadian soccer team and played goalie on an amateur ice hockey team. David championed local youth sports and in the '70s chaperoned a youth soccer team from Kent to Europe. For over more than years he coached, sponsored and played pitcher for a Kent men’s slow pitch team. Cooke was active in the community, having served as president of the Meridian-Kent Kiwanis Club and as a member of the citizen advisory committee for the development of Kent’s new ShoWare Center.

For several years Cooke was frequently seen with his beloved Vizsla dog, Dante.

In lieu of flowers, Cooke would prefer donations to his favorite charities: Pediatric Interim Care Center (donate: 328 4th Ave. S., Kent, WA, 98032); The Budkis Fund - charitable pet care (c/o Renton Community Foundation, PO Box 820, Renton, WA, 98057); and The Jamie Moyer Foundation – Camp Erin (The Moyer Foundation c/o Donations 2426 32 Ave. W, Suite 200, Seattle, WA, 98199)

In celebration of David’s life, a memorial service will take place Wednesday, June 24 at 1:30 pm at the Kent Covenant Church, 12010 S.E. 240th St., Kent.