On Sunday, the Canadian War Museum announced the passing of their Chief Historian, Dr. Tim Cook.
Tim’s association with the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada goes back nearly 30 years. An early contributor to our journal, he wrote to us recently:
Canadian Military History has supported me throughout my career. The editor published my first article in 1996, “The Blind Leading the Blind,” on the Battle of St. Eloi. Before it was accepted, I remember thinking that if the article is published, I might try to make a career in military history. It was published; and I did.
Tim became a prolific contributor, publishing five more articles, 21 book reviews and 17 features. Many of those features highlighted or offered a behind-the-scenes look at the journal’s co-publisher the Canadian War Museum. Tim continued:
My favourite article involved colleagues across the country. Acting as editor, I posed the question about the 10 most important books in Canadian military history. I set up some loose parameters that were immediately challenged by my esteemed colleagues, but we sorted it out, and it wasn’t a scientific exercise.
Students, scholars, and the historically-minded will still profit from the list, but the scholarship has marched on, almost always building on some of the books on the list. I wonder what new books would top that list today, and which would remain?
Some of those colleagues nominated Tim’s work for the top ten. In fact, his work gained wide recognition among academics and the public. Two of his 20 books won the C.P. Stacey Award: No Place to Run: The Canadian Corps and Gas Warfare in the First World War (UBC Press, 2000) and The Necessary War, Volume I: Canadians Fighting The Second World War: 1939-1943 (Allen Lane, 2014).
Tim published some twenty books over his career.
Whenever he published a new book (which was often), he always asked to speak at our public lecture series. We were lucky to have him.
His last visit was in 2024, when he launched his last book, The Good Allies. He returned the next day for an information session with graduate students, talking about the state of the discipline and opportunities for historians and history graduates. Even during his book tours, he always had time to speak to students.
He mentored dozens of students who walked through the doors of the Centre and inspired countless more in their pursuit of military history. At the annual Canadian Military History Colloquium, he made a point of seeking out panels (especially when they were made up of graduate students) that were the least attended to ensure everyone received a good question from the audience. And after the event was over, it was not unusual to receive a brief note from him (“Hi guys, Tim here”) from time to time to see how things were going. Tim was at his best fostering passion in Canadian military history—especially among the up-and-coming ranks of the field.
Tim left his mark on so many of us. We remember him as a great scholar but also a generous man who gave back to the profession by paying it forward. Tim Cook will be missed.