David M. Cook

David Cook of Cincinnati, Ohio, who died in 2020, at age 67, was a noted union, labor, and employee benefits lawyer. He was a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel in 2000, and later became a Fellow of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers in 2009. David received his J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1978.

David was the founder of, and managing principal in, Cook & Logothetis, LLC. David devoted his professional career to representing unions and individual workers in employment law matters, including wage and hour issues, and in employee benefits where he focused on the representation of plan participants in claim for benefit cases, breach of fiduciary duty cases, and various aspects of Taft-Hartley multiemployer benefit plans. During his career, he more than earned the trust of labor unions, both at the local and national levels, and developed a national reputation as an expert in employee benefits law. In Cincinnati, his firm was a friend and ally to organized labor so much so that in the 2020 Holiday Edition of the Cincinnati American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (“AFL-CIO”) Labor Council newsletter, in an article entitled, “Working for a Living,” David was noted, along with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and two other Cincinnati social/economic justice leaders, as having passed that year.

David served as General Counsel for the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and as General Counsel for the Armco Employees Independent Federation. David served as a member of the AFL-CIO Center for Working Capital's National Advisory Council of Employee Benefits Professionals.

He served in various capacities in the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Section of Labor & Employment Law, including: Vice-Chair of the ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law (“LEL”) Annual CLE (“Continuing Legal Education”) Planning Committee; Co-Chair of the ABA LEL Section Employee Benefits Committee (1996 to 1999); and member of the ABA's Joint Committee on Employee Benefits during 1998 and 1999. He also was active as Senior Editor for the “Annual Supplements to the Employee Benefits Law” (Bureau of National Affairs (“BNA”), Second Edition, 2000) including its chapters on Civil Procedure & Enforcement, Collective Bargaining & Employee Benefits, and Ethics and Evidentiary Privilege from 1999 through 2004 (BNA was acquired by Bloomberg, L.P. in 2011 and later known as Bloomberg Industry Group). He co-authored with Terese M. Connerton “Procedural Aspects of Litigating ERISA Claims,” American Bar Association Center for Continuing Legal Education National Institute. He also appeared and presented papers and made presentations numerous times across the U.S. during his career.

Along with his legal work, David was active in community activities, including service on the boards of Minorities in Math, Science & Engineering, and the Better Housing League of Cincinnati.

David’s over 40 years of giving voice, counsel, and representation to employees in the workplace, including representing them with respect to their rights and benefits provided by employee benefit plans, caused the treatment of participants by employee benefit plans to be improved.

Photo Source: The Decade Book, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel 2000-2010