Marcia G. Cooke Obituary

American Attorney Marcia G. Cooke passed away on January 27, 2023, at age 68 in
Detroit, Michigan, United State, after battling inoperable cancer.

Marcia Gail Cooke was born October 16, 1954 in Sumter, South Carolina, United States.

Cooke obtained a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1975 and earned a Juris Doctor from Wayne State University Law School in 1977.

After graduating, Cooke became a staff attorney for Neighborhood Legal Services in Michigan from 1978 to 1979. She then served as deputy public defender of the Legal Aid and Defender Association in Michigan from 1979 to 1980.

Between 1980 and 1983, Cooke worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Detroit and subsequently work briefly in private practice from 1983 to 1984. From 1984 to 1992, she worked as a federal magistrate judge in Detroit.

In 1992, she went to work for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami as director of professional development and training and later became executive assistant U.S. Attorney.

Cooke served as chief inspector general for the Executive Office of the Governor of Florida under Jeb Bush from 1999 to 2002.

From 2002 to 2004 she was assistant county attorney in Miami-Dade County.

Cooke was appointed to the bench in Miami in 2004 by President George W. Bush and was confirmed by the Senate on May 18, 2004. She was the first Black female federal judge in Florida.

At the time of her death, She was serving as a senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a post she held since July 15, 2022.

Marcia G. Cooke’s funeral arrangements are yet to be announced by the family.