Billionaire Gayle Cook, who founded the Cook companies with her late husband, has died. She was 91 years old.
According to a press release from Cook Medical, Cook died Sunday morning.
Gayle and her husband Bill started their medical device business in a spare bedroom of their Bloomington apartment in the 1960s.
Cook Medical is now a global company but remains headquartered in Bloomington.
Since the late 1980s, the Cooks have been on the Forbes Magazine list of the richest people in America.
A man named Arthur Curry kidnapped Gayle Cook in 1989. He bound and gagged her and drove her around Bloomington for 26 hours. He demanded a $1.7 million ransom.
Carl Cook, the couple’s son, has been the CEO of Cook Group since Bill died in 2011. He’ll remain in that position. The company continues to be led by Pete Yonkman, president of Cook Group and Cook Medical. Steve Ferguson is the board chairman.
Gayle was involved in historic preservation. She and Bill spent more than $500 million restoring the historic West Baden Springs and French Lick resorts.
“We are deeply saddened by Gayle Cook’s passing. She was an enthusiastic and generous advocate for preservation,” Indiana Landmarks president Brad Ward wrote in a statement. “Beyond the sheer number of properties they’ve restored around the state, Gayle and her family have elevated preservation in a very public way as both a social good and a practical economic activity.”
Ward said that Cook's advocacy helped save numerous well-known structures in the state, including Bloomington's county courthouse.
“We are grateful beyond measure for the Cook family’s ongoing support and extraordinary commitment to preservation,” he wrote. “We will miss Gayle’s warm friendship, but we take comfort knowing that her legacy will live on for generations to enjoy.”
George Hale contributed to this report.
This story has been updated.
