Carl Edward Cookson

Carl E. Cookson led a full life as a successful San Jose businessman, a respected civic leader, a generous philanthropist and a beloved family man. With his family at his side, he died April 29 after a long battle with leukemia. He was 81.

San Jose might have been a much different place without him. In the title business since 1957, including as CEO and chairman of Santa Clara Land Title Co., he grew his business just as Santa Clara Valley was transforming into Silicon Valley. In the civic life of San Jose, his enduring contributions are endless. He turned around the San Jose Symphony when it was near collapse and was considered the “patron saint” of the Children’s Discovery Museum. He also helped establish or raise money for the Tech Museum of Innovation, the San Jose Repertory Theater and what is now SAP Center. Long after his retirement, he remained active in leadership roles with a diverse group of local nonprofits, including Arts Council Silicon Valley, HOPE Rehabilitative Services, Friends of Guadalupe Park and Silicon Valley FACES, which helps crime victims and encourages youth leadership. In 1990, he was named to the Mercury News list of top local powerbrokers.

As he once told the Mercury News, "my goal isn't to be powerful. I love a challenge. I love turning problems into opportunities." For all his leadership abilities, he was a humble, quiet man who did more listening than talking and had the ability to motivate people into action.

The son of a truck driver who died when Carl was 9, he moved from San Jose to Salinas where he was raised by his older sister. He met his wife, Sharron, at Salinas High. They married in 1954 and would have celebrated their 60th anniversary in December. He served in the U.S. Army and graduated from San Jose State University in 1957.

He was the patriarch of the family, which often gathered at their Rose Garden home. He had a dry sense of humor and a soulful way of bringing out the best in his four children and nine grandchildren.

He is survived by his wife, Sharron; his son Carl P. Cookson (Julie); his daughters Cathy Lefeber (Dan), Chris Prodis (Geordie), and Cary Colleran (Tim); grandchildren Carl W. Cookson (Yolanda), Kevin P. Cookson (Melissa), Tyler and Aaron Lefeber, Maxwell and Sophia Prodis and Jake, Nicholas and Katherine Colleran; and three great-grandchildren Carl, Alexia and Alivia Cookson.

A memorial service will be held at the California Theatre, home to Symphony Silicon Valley, at 5 p.m. May 12, at 345 S. First Street, San Jose.

Donations may be made in his name to City Lights Theater Company, Symphony Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley FACES.