Virginia Cook, co-founder of Virginia Cook Realtors, died Saturday afternoon, her former business partner confirmed. She was 84.
Cook worked in Dallas real estate for over 50 years, starting her own firm in 1999 with business partner Sheila Rice. They grew to six offices across the region — in North Dallas, Uptown, the Park Cities, Sherman, Fort Worth and Plano — before closing their doors in 2019. Virginia Cook Realtors was one of the largest independent North Texas real estate sales firms at the time of its closing.
Described in this 2018 Dallas Morning News article as a “5-foot-2-inch powerhouse,” Cook was known for her determination, wit and energy; even in the face of immense challenges. The News wrote in 2019 that Cook was “as well known in local real estate circles as other industry icons including Allie Beth Allman and the late Ebby Halliday.”
Cook had a stroke in 2015, resulting in paralysis of her right side and difficulty speaking. She had to take time off from the company and spent two years in rehab at Presbyterian Village North, but was determined to get involved again.
Cook went to one of the company’s six offices every day in her motorized wheelchair once she recovered, hiring a driver to get her there and back. Her Highland Park home, which she had for more than three decades, was retrofitted for her accommodations.
Rice said at the time that Cook could always understand what others were saying, she just couldn’t always fully respond. Her employees and colleagues called the loss of her voice a great injustice.
“If I’d ever met a leader who was just superb with words and the way she could motivate people with a great sense of humor, it’s Virginia,” David Griffin, a colleague of Cook’s, told The News in 2018.
It was a different world in 1960 when Cook decided to get her real estate license.
Cook, then a 20-year-old student at Southern Methodist University, needed legal permission from her husband to pursue the license, per Texas law. She’d work for Judge Fite, Paula Stringer Realtors and Henry S. Miller Co., where she built Miller’s residential real estate arm into a national player before launching her firm near the turn of the century.
In her later years, she enjoyed reading cookbooks and eating at Al Biernat’s Steakhouse or Pacific Cafe. She practiced speech and physical therapy. Her willpower pushed her to try to learn to write with her left hand and use an iPad at almost 80 years old.
“Virginia’s not like anybody I’ve ever known,” Rice said in 2018, as her longtime partner battled through physical troubles. “She so smart. She’s so clever. She’s so witty. And she is so absolutely going to do it her way on things like this. That bullheadedness has helped her begin to rebuild her life.
“I do know this: Her spirit is very strong. You saw her, so you know. The girl is still there.”
Funeral services for Cook have not yet been announced.
Breaking news editor Tyler J. Davis contributed to this article.