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Giving It All Away: The Story of William W. Cook and His Michigan Law Quadrangle

by Margaret A Leary

University of Michigan Press, 2011
eISBN: 978-0-472-02802-3 | Paper: 978-0-472-03484-0
Library of Congress Classification KF368.C648L43 2011
Dewey Decimal Classification 340.092

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

ABOUT THIS BOOK

“Margaret Leary's carefully researched book illuminates a complex man who marked his university in a truly enduring way."
---Francis X. Blouin Jr., Director, Bentley Historical Library, and Professor, School of Information and Department of History, University of Michigan

“Generations of Michigan Law grads have passed on myths about their generous but eccentric benefactor. . . . Now Margaret Leary has given us the real story, and it reads like a gripping whodunit."
---Theodore J. St. Antoine, James E. and Sarah A. Degan Professor Emeritus of Law and Past Dean, University of Michigan Law School

“In an absorbing book, Margaret Leary unstintingly investigates unpublished, archival material to unravel enigmas surrounding William Wilson Cook. She brings to life Cook's brilliant interactions with powerful moguls of the early twentieth century as she traces his lofty, philanthropic mission to elevate the legal profession."
---Ilene H. Forsyth, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of the History of Art, emerita, University of Michigan

William W. Cook, born in 1858 and a graduate of the University of Michigan and of its law school, made his fortune by investing in the burgeoning telegraph and communications industry, as well as in representing the Mackay Company in their frequent tumultuous battles with Western Union and the U.S. government. Though Cook entered New York society and never returned to Michigan after receiving his law degree, he decided not just to give his alma mater the finest physical facility of any existing law school, but to donate permanent resources that would permit the law school to engage in groundbreaking legal research. However, his generosity proved controversial and eventually very litigious. Margaret A. Leary places Cook's story in the rich social and cultural context of his time and paints a fascinating portrait of a complex figure whose legacy continues to shape the University of Michigan.

Cover photographs: (left) Gregory Fox Photography; (right) Ann B. Cook collection, photo by Russell R. Serbay

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Margaret A. Leary is Director of the University of Michigan Law Library.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Sidebars

Chapter 1: The 1931 Lawsuit

Chapter 2: 1858−82 - Hillsdale childhood, student days in Ann Arbor

Martha Cook’s diaries

William Cook, fraternity man

Chapter 3: 1882−98 - The ambitious young New York lawyer, the brilliant writer on corporate law, the wooer and husband of Ida Olmstead, the indispensable employee of John Mackay

Chapter 4: 1898–1910 - Divorcing Ida, thriving at the Mackay Companies, losing a boss and mentor, becoming a man of property, establishing enduring friendships, making philanthropic plans for the University of Michigan

Martha Cook’s obituary

A glittering Manhattan evening

Chapter 5: 1910−19 - Rapport with President Hutchins, less rapport with Dean Bates, meeting Myrtle White, making Michigan commitments, honoring a revered mother, moving into an elegant Manhattan town house, a possible case of heartbreak, continuing a dist

Architects, materials, and motivation for the Martha Cook Building

The Martha Cook Building’s lovely landscape

Chapter 6: John T. Creighton - Trustee or toad?

Chapter 7: 1920−27 - A bad diagnosis, researching a new book, the opening of the Lawyers Club, Dean Bates’s endless missteps, the final break with Blooming Grove, Law Quad politics bedevil the wise-hearted men at Michigan, Clarence Cook Little arrives in

Magnifying minor university officials

Chapter 8: 1928−30 - Agonizing over the fate of Port Chester, President Little’s appalling lapse, an exasperated Regent Murfin picks up his pen, Cook takes command and resolves to finish the Law Quad, a funeral is held in Port Chester, Trustee Creighton m

Medical education’s river of money

Cook and Creighton at Port Chester

Chapter 9: 1931−35 - A whole lot of litigation, Trustee Creighton obfuscates and delays, Regent Murfin continues as hero, Myrtle White miraculously reappears, Ida’s suit settles, Hutchins Hall opens, dedication day for the Law Quadrangle, the Port Chester

Chapter 10: The Fate of Everyone Else

Epilogue

Appendix A: A Discussion of American Institutions and Their Preservation

Appendix B: William Cook’s Legacy to the Profession of Law

Appendix C: A Description of William Cook’s Manhattan Town House

Notes

Index

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