Roger Cooke

1940 - 2024

Roger Cooke
02/22/1940 - 08/01/2024
He was the Superman of science, modest and unassuming but with an infectious smile and twinkle in his eye. Meeting him you would not guess he was one of the most acclaimed biophysicists in the world.
Roger Cooke (1940-2024), a biophysicist and Professor at University of California, San Francisco, passed away on August 1, 2024.
Roger was born in Ann Arbor, MI, raised in Lexington, KY, and educated in Physics at MIT (where he was on the swim team and broke the Freshman freestyle record for 50 and 100 meter swimming) and U. Illinois/Champaign, Urbana (M.S. and PhD.). He did a brief postdoc at UCSF and joined its faculty in 1971, where he was a world leader in muscle biophysics for over half a century.
Roger was one of the most innovative molecular biophysicists, challenging and revising conventional models for force generation and movement by direct and precise measurement of protein structural changes. He was a creative and innovative engineer, employing an approach he referred to as "barnyard engineering" to devise new instruments and approaches, to solve previously intractable problems. He was also a superb collaborator, solving a wide range of important problems by connecting (and sharing his infectious joy of discovery) with other scientists who were innovators in spectroscopic probes or the expression and manipulation of specific proteins and animal models.
Among his many important discoveries in the myosin-actin system in muscle are (1) the super-relaxed state (SRX) of muscle, (2) molecular mechanisms of fatigue, (3) the regulation of SRX and fatigue by myosin phosphorylation, and (4) the mechanism of force generation in muscle, in which myosin rotates on actin by rotation within the myosin head.
Roger also made major contributions to the mechanisms of other motor proteins, most notably kinesin-tubulin. As in the myosin-actin field, his discoveries in this field on structural dynamics, protein interactions, and kinetics have established a new framework for understanding cellular movement, accelerating progress in biomedical research.
Roger was elected as a Fellow of the Biophysical Society in 2022 recognizing his lifetime contributions.
Roger was multitalented and fearless in so many ways, especially on the water where he excelled in swimming and sailing. With his wife Greta, he traveled the world. From hidden basement sushi bars in Osaka, mountain towns outside Tokyo, to adventures in Australia, weeklong sails and swims in the Aegean and Caribbean, barging in Burgundy, skiing in Alpbach and elsewhere. He swam the Race from Alcatraz twice and was an avid cyclist and mountain climber. Roger entertained his friends and collaborators in sailing all over San Francisco Bay. But perhaps his greatest talent was as a family man, friend, and mentor. We all miss him.
Roger leaves behind the love of his life, his wife of 33 years, Greta Alexander, cherished daughter Dylan and son Robin, stepson David, stepdaughter Gia and granddaughter Chloe in addition to over 100 cousins in the Cooke-Grinnan clan. His escapades at the annual Sanderling Beach Family Reunion will live on.