David James Cook was born September 12th, 1967 in Bethesda, MD, to William and Donas Cook.  He spent his early years in Oklahoma, graduating at age 17 from Edmond Memorial High School in 1985.  He received a Bachelor’s in Journalism from Baylor University (’88) where he was part of Sigma Chi fraternity and Campus Crusade for Christ.   He then became a Captain in the Marine Corps (‘89-’93) and rounded out his education at The University of Texas where he received his Master’s in Supply Chain Management (’96). 

An amazing husband and father, Dave met his wife, Maureen, in 1997 when they both worked for Intel Corporation. Dave and Mo had a truly happy love, a strong love for 17 years of marriage. They cherished raising their children, Kate, Ryan & Sara in Corrales, NM, where they have an acre full of animals and fun.

Dave spent his career in the Supply Chain world working at Intel, Eclipse Aviation, Demand Point consulting and then most recently was the Chief Revenue Officer for nMetric.  His proudest career move was starting his own company in 2014, called Right Sized Inventory. He was following a dream to offer a robust inventory optimization tool to any company who holds inventory. In true Dave fashion, he saw a gap, had a vision and worked hard to make that vision a reality.  He didn’t waste a moment in his life and rarely sat still.  Whether he was creating a training plan for our next half marathon or century bike ride, building new pens for that new animal the kids adopted, reading 2-3 books a week or planning our next family trip, he did it with tenacity and devotion to make life fun and purposeful.

Dave had a great sense of humor…dry, but very quick witted and constantly made us all laugh. We miss that so very much. He delighted in helping others whether it was helping demo a house, take loads to the dump or helping friends learn how to ride a bike.  He loved spicy foods of any kind -- the spicier, the better.  The fiery foods festival was ‘a must’ every year and generated so many great memories.  He loved skiing and teaching others to ski…he had so much patience, especially with children in uncomfortable boots.  He would attempt, and was typically able, to fix anything that was broken. He would often sing or hum commercial jingles and entertained us by making up the words he didn’t know.

Dave always loved the mountains.  He started rock climbing in high school, and one summer during college he worked at a ranch in Colorado as a ‘maintenance guy’.  That is when his true love for the mountains began. He became a climbing guide in Buena Vista, CO, where he fine-tuned his climbing and guiding skills.  He was 21 years old when he started climbing 14ers and proceeded to climb 46 of them throughout his lifetime. If you knew Dave, you knew he was fit, detailed, organized and prepared for every climb. He loved researching climbing books and topo maps and needless to say we have many of those around our house today.

He was a great leader and had the ability to make almost everything fun and rewarding, like climbing the highest peak in Colorado with an 11, 9 and 4 year old…I couldn’t imagine how that could turn out to be a positive experience but sure enough, it was and it is a beautiful memory that we will have forever.  It also tied into Dave’s plan for our family to climb the High Points in all 50 states - no timeline, just a great way for us to seek out that location when we were visiting a new state and create family bonding time. We would color in that state on a big map he had hanging on his office wall - we highly recommend this project for your family.

We may never know what happened last September 19th when Dave went climbing in the Elk Mountain range, but we do know that Dave lived a very full, faithful life.  He loved lots and helped bring three amazing children into this world all while role-modeling behaviors that have helped, and will help, those whom he touched be better people. 

Dave had a notecard posted above his desk with the following ‘8 Missions’ that he lived by: Have a Positive Attitude, PT (physical training) and Live Healthy, Motivate Yourself and Others, Earn Respect, Set Goals, Live with Integrity, Mentoring and Have Fun.  These will continue to be modeled in our household and we hope others can use them to help lead a better life.

Dave will be lovingly remembered forever and always by his wife, Maureen, their three children, Kate, Ryan and Sara, his mother, Donas, and step-father, Tom, of Edmond, OK, sister, Tamara of Edmond, OK (husband Tim and children Jonathan, Mercedes, Valerie, Daviana, David and Melody), in-laws, Denis and Joanie McSweeney, brothers-in-law Kevin McSweeney of Chicago (wife Anne, children Megan, Matthew and Mary Kate) and Peter McSweeney of San Francisco (wife Cory, son Rixon), step-siblings Tom Jr., Cindy and Jann and their families. Dave’s spirit for life will be carried on by these family members and by a large network of extended family and friends who live across the country.

We miss him so much.