Charles Cook; Banker and Reagan Backer

Charles E. Cook, one of President Reagan’s early political supporters and chairman of the board and co-founder of the Community Bank, has died

Cook, who co-founded the bank more than 40 years ago with his late brother Howard, also an early Reagan supporter, died Thursday at Huntington Memorial Hospital after a lengthy illness. Private services were held Saturday at his Pasadena home.

Said Holmes Tuttle, a close friend and longtime business associate of Cook, as well as an original member of Reagan’s so-called “kitchen Cabinet”: “If you could talk to the President today, he would tell you that both Charley and Howard were among his staunchest supporters when he was running both for the governorship and the Presidency.”

Pioneer Auto Dealer

A native of Enid, Okla., Cook came to California in 1920 from El Paso, Tex., where he moved as a youngster with his family and where he had worked as a clerk in several banks. He became a pioneer automobile dealer in the Los Angeles area before returning to banking.

He employed Tuttle, who would become a leading California Republican, in his Whittier dealership in 1926, and later the two would become associates in both the automobile business and banking, according to Tuttle.

Tuttle said President Reagan had spoken with Cook as recently as three weeks ago.

As well as being a behind-the-scenes contributor to Republican causes, Cook also was prominent in Los Angeles-area philanthropic activities.

He also was founder of Challenge/Cook Bros., an industrial manufacturing firm in the City of Industry, and at the time of his death he was on the board of directors of InterWest Bank of Tucson.

Survivors include his wife, Dorothy, three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.