Former U.S. Sen. Marlow Cook dies

Former U.S. Sen. Marlow Cook, a Plymouth Harbor resident, has died at the age of 89.

Born in Akron, N.Y, Cook served in the U.S. Navy before beginning a political career in Louisville, Ky., that lasted 17 years. He began that run in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1957, and eventually served as a Republican in the U.S. Senate from 1968 to 1974, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

"As a Republican candidate for reelection in 1974, Cook courageously suggested the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon over the Watergate affair, becoming just the second member of Congress to do so," said U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, who served as an intern to Cook in the mid-1960s, in a statement. "He challenged the Nixon administration when he thought it was justified and supported it when he felt it was deserved, but he steadfastly and resolutely defended the interests of Kentucky regardless of partisan considerations."

In a Jan. 6, 2005, edition of the Longboat Observer, Cook shared inspirational wisdom, including the following quote:

"I’m old enough that I’m not going to hold onto something that should really be given to someone younger with better ideas and more enthusiasm and more stamina. When someone insists upon staying in office when his time is past, that’s selfishness, not accomplishment. He or she has accomplished more than enough, and they should be cognizant of the fact that young people are going to run this world and going to make it more viable, and that’s as it should be."