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10-03-03, 04:42 PM
http://www.sunjournal.com/print.asp?slg=100103warren
Former Sugarloaf owner Warren Cook leaves Jackson Lab post
By Liz Chapman
Bangor Daily News
The former owner of Sugarloaf/USA has resigned from The Jackson Laboratory after admitting he falsely listed the prestigious Navy Cross as a military accomplishment on his job resume.
Monday, Warren C. Cook Sr. also admitted he does not hold a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was not on the 1968 U.S. Olympic hockey team, as he stated on his resume.
Cook, vice president of government relations and special projects at the world-famous research lab, resigned Saturday after the Bangor Daily News ran a story about what Cook called an “innocent mistake” on his resume. On Monday, Maine’s Public Radio reported that Cook described the Navy Cross listing on his resume as “a lie.”
“That was a mistake,” Cook said of the master’s degree listing on his resume. “But the Navy Cross was not a mistake. That was an inaccurate statement. It was a lie.”
Cook, 58, would not discuss why he felt it was necessary to lie on his resume.
When first asked last Thursday evening if anything other than the claim of being awarded the Navy Cross needed to be corrected on his resume, Cook said no.
He initially said he was nominated for the Navy Cross award, the nation’s second-highest military award, during his tour in Vietnam, but had not actually received it.
On Monday, he backtracked again, saying he had been “considered for it,” but that no formal nomination had been made.
“I was never written up for it,” he said.
The Navy Cross is awarded for extraordinary courage during combat to U.S. sailors and Marines. It is second only to the Medal of Honor.
Asked again whether any other corrections other than the Navy Cross and the master’s degree needed to be made, Cook reviewed his resume Monday and said all the other claims were true.
Cook also had claimed he was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Olympic Committee said Friday that Cook is not listed as an Olympian in either of the committee’s two databases.
He explained last week that he was the fourth goalie on the team and was “on call” if he was needed for the games in Grenoble, France.
However, in an interview with Maine Public Radio on Monday, Cook acknowledged he was not a member of that team.
Last Wednesday, 13 pages of documents revealing Cook’s resume inaccuracies were faxed to the media by anonymous sources. The same faxes were sent to Gov. John Baldacci’s office on the following day.
Over the weekend, the faxes were traced back to a small group of Jackson Lab employees.
Some of Maine’s top political leaders, who consider Cook a longtime friend, were stunned by the revelations, including Baldacci.
Baldacci, who named Cook to a leadership position on his transition team last January, said through a spokesman Monday that his “thoughts are with Warren and his family at this difficult time.”
Baldacci was not sure whether Cook would remain as one of his top political advisers.
“That’s something the governor and Warren will discuss,” Baldacci spokesman Lee Umphrey said.
Cook said Monday he offered to resign as chairman of the Maine Seacoast Missionary Society and Common Good Ventures. He did not offer his resignation from other nonprofit boards on which he serves as a member only, he said.
Cook said he never told anyone, including Baldacci, that his resume was not completely accurate.
“Except for my conscience, I never had an occasion or opportunity” to tell anyone of the misrepresentations, he said.
Dr. Richard Woychik, director of The Jackson Laboratory, said Monday he was stunned by Cook’s admissions.
Woychik praised Cook for his work for the lab and his dedication to the organization, his family and his friends.
In a telephone interview later in the day, Woychik said he wanted to assure the public that the lab now checks the resumes of all top managers for veracity. Woychik was not the director when Cook was hired in 1998.
Cook was hired in late 1998 as president of JAX Research Systems, a separate division of the lab that breeds millions of mice annually to supply to Jackson Lab researchers and to sell to other laboratories around the world.
In mid-September, the lab announced a major restructuring that merged JRS with the research part of the lab, and Cook was named a vice president in the new organization.
Woychik would not disclose Cook’s salary or how much he received as a severance package.
Cook said he would like to thank whoever disseminated the documents indicating that his resume was not accurate. He said he was relieved to have the confession behind him.
He added that he has received “overwhelming support” from friends since the revelations surfaced, “including Marines I served with in Vietnam.”
Former Sugarloaf owner Warren Cook leaves Jackson Lab post
By Liz Chapman
Bangor Daily News
The former owner of Sugarloaf/USA has resigned from The Jackson Laboratory after admitting he falsely listed the prestigious Navy Cross as a military accomplishment on his job resume.
Monday, Warren C. Cook Sr. also admitted he does not hold a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was not on the 1968 U.S. Olympic hockey team, as he stated on his resume.
Cook, vice president of government relations and special projects at the world-famous research lab, resigned Saturday after the Bangor Daily News ran a story about what Cook called an “innocent mistake” on his resume. On Monday, Maine’s Public Radio reported that Cook described the Navy Cross listing on his resume as “a lie.”
“That was a mistake,” Cook said of the master’s degree listing on his resume. “But the Navy Cross was not a mistake. That was an inaccurate statement. It was a lie.”
Cook, 58, would not discuss why he felt it was necessary to lie on his resume.
When first asked last Thursday evening if anything other than the claim of being awarded the Navy Cross needed to be corrected on his resume, Cook said no.
He initially said he was nominated for the Navy Cross award, the nation’s second-highest military award, during his tour in Vietnam, but had not actually received it.
On Monday, he backtracked again, saying he had been “considered for it,” but that no formal nomination had been made.
“I was never written up for it,” he said.
The Navy Cross is awarded for extraordinary courage during combat to U.S. sailors and Marines. It is second only to the Medal of Honor.
Asked again whether any other corrections other than the Navy Cross and the master’s degree needed to be made, Cook reviewed his resume Monday and said all the other claims were true.
Cook also had claimed he was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Olympic Committee said Friday that Cook is not listed as an Olympian in either of the committee’s two databases.
He explained last week that he was the fourth goalie on the team and was “on call” if he was needed for the games in Grenoble, France.
However, in an interview with Maine Public Radio on Monday, Cook acknowledged he was not a member of that team.
Last Wednesday, 13 pages of documents revealing Cook’s resume inaccuracies were faxed to the media by anonymous sources. The same faxes were sent to Gov. John Baldacci’s office on the following day.
Over the weekend, the faxes were traced back to a small group of Jackson Lab employees.
Some of Maine’s top political leaders, who consider Cook a longtime friend, were stunned by the revelations, including Baldacci.
Baldacci, who named Cook to a leadership position on his transition team last January, said through a spokesman Monday that his “thoughts are with Warren and his family at this difficult time.”
Baldacci was not sure whether Cook would remain as one of his top political advisers.
“That’s something the governor and Warren will discuss,” Baldacci spokesman Lee Umphrey said.
Cook said Monday he offered to resign as chairman of the Maine Seacoast Missionary Society and Common Good Ventures. He did not offer his resignation from other nonprofit boards on which he serves as a member only, he said.
Cook said he never told anyone, including Baldacci, that his resume was not completely accurate.
“Except for my conscience, I never had an occasion or opportunity” to tell anyone of the misrepresentations, he said.
Dr. Richard Woychik, director of The Jackson Laboratory, said Monday he was stunned by Cook’s admissions.
Woychik praised Cook for his work for the lab and his dedication to the organization, his family and his friends.
In a telephone interview later in the day, Woychik said he wanted to assure the public that the lab now checks the resumes of all top managers for veracity. Woychik was not the director when Cook was hired in 1998.
Cook was hired in late 1998 as president of JAX Research Systems, a separate division of the lab that breeds millions of mice annually to supply to Jackson Lab researchers and to sell to other laboratories around the world.
In mid-September, the lab announced a major restructuring that merged JRS with the research part of the lab, and Cook was named a vice president in the new organization.
Woychik would not disclose Cook’s salary or how much he received as a severance package.
Cook said he would like to thank whoever disseminated the documents indicating that his resume was not accurate. He said he was relieved to have the confession behind him.
He added that he has received “overwhelming support” from friends since the revelations surfaced, “including Marines I served with in Vietnam.”