Lowell W. Rooks

Major General Lowell Ward Rooks (April 11, 1893 − January 11, 1973) was an officer in the United States Army who commanded the 90th Infantry Division in 1945 and served with the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force at the end of World War II in Europe. He later served as Director General of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Education and army career Born in Colton, Washington, to Albert Rooks (1859–1932) and Ruth Naomi Richardson (1871–1941), Rooks attended Walla Walla High School before studying at Whitman College and later at Washington State College (1913−1914) and the University of Washington (1914−1917). His university studies were cut short by the American entry into World War I. He later studied at the Infantry School (1926−1927), the Command and General Staff College (1933−1935) and the Army War College (1936−1937).

In December 1942 he joined the staff of General Eisenhower.

Post-war career and retirement Rooks retired from the army in December 1945. He was chief executive officer of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in 1946, and from 1 January 1947 to 30 September 1948 he served as its third and final Director General, overseeing the agency's closure. He then worked as a fundraising coordinator for UNICEF until his resignation in November 1950.

He later moved to a cattle ranch in Arizona and died there, in Nogales, Arizona, in 1973. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Honours Rooks was awarded the American Distinguished Service Medal for the North African and Italian campaigns during World War II, the French Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre, the Brazilian Order of Military Merit and the Belgian Order of the Crown.

Family Rooks was married to Martha C. Phillips (1901–1972), with whom he had two daughters.

Rooks's older brother Albert was a United States Navy officer who was killed at sea in 1942.