Roger Cook

Early and personal life Rajie Sulaiman Cook was born in 1930 to Palestinian Christian parents Jalila Totah and Najeeb Esa Cook , who came from Ramallah. His parents immigrated from the Mandate of Palestine to the United States in 1927. The family’s original surname was Sulaiman, however his grandfather was nicknamed Küçük (small) by Ottoman Turkish personnel, which was Anglicized to Cook under the British Mandate for Palestine. After an elementary school teacher told Rajie that his name was too difficult to pronounce, Rajie became known as Roger, a name he was referred to until he re-embraced Rajie in his older years.

Rajie met his wife of 65 years, Margit "Peggy" Schneider, in 1944. She was, as he wrote, "a woman of intelligence and integrity, the kind of life companion who would explore this path I wanted to follow with me." Rajie and Peggy devoted their lives to their love of modern design; in 1969 they moved with their daughters Cyndi and Cathie to a Bauhaus-inspired glass and stone home they built in the woods of Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. Rajie was an avid tennis player, a brave bee keeper, and accomplished bluegrass musician.

Cook died in 2021 of myelodysplastic syndrome in hospice at Chandler Hall in Newtown, Pennsylvania.