Alice Cook
Alice Cook, a lifelong socialist and a Democratic Socialists of America member member for many years, died February 7 1998 at her home in Ithaca at age 94.
Germany
In the 1920s Cook was a social worker and also active in the labor movement. From 1928 to 1931 she did graduate study in Germany, and she returned to Germany to do research on working women several times in recent decades. In the 1930s and 1940s she worked for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and other unions and played an instrumental role in their worker education programs. [1]
Cornell
In 1954 Cook joined the faculty of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, and since 1972 she was professor emeritus. She was Cornell University's first ombudsman, an advocacy position for the "little guy" that grew out of various 1960s social movements.[2]
- Throughout her life working women were a central focus of both her research and her activism. Ithaca DSA remembers the talk she gave for us last spring that provided background insights into both labor history and the history of welfare to help us grapple with welfare reform in New York State. We miss her participation in our meetings but look forward to reading her forthcoming autobiography, A Lifetime in Labor.