Tom Cook: Count me grateful and blessed

Count me grateful and blessed

TOM COOK

I KNOW IT may be boring for some of you, but I wanted to take a few lines this month to talk about how blessed and grateful I am to have been part of this publication for the past 35 years.

Believe it or not, my first column for the Baton Rouge Business Report was written for the fifth Issue Date: OCT 2021 Ad proof #2anniversary edition. I think the • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. only person who has written • AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received within 24 hours for it longer than me is Rolfe from receipt of this proof. A shorter timeframe will apply for tight deadlines. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. McCollister. In the early days, Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2021. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

McCollister had several folks from the industry write a column for his “new” publication. I remember when it first came out, he had guys like Oren Russell and Princeton Bardwell, people who everyone in real estate knew and respected. When Bardwell decided to give up writing the column, I called McCollister and asked if he would give me a chance. I had the blessing of working for one of the finest men you will ever meet in Bill Cobb at Cobb Corporation and had just opened my own firm.

McCollister gave me an opportunity, and I have been blessed to be a part of Business Report for the last 35 years. The association with this publication has allowed me to meet some fine people—great editors like JR Ball, and reporters like Mukul Verma and Stephanie Riegel. I remember when they brought in a new guy named Julio Melara to help run things. Melara told me they were going to take the publication to the next level—and they did.

I have reported on a lot of changes in our industry over the years, not just the interesting sales that have taken place. I can remember when Mike Wampold came to town and started renovating apartments before he had much. I remember when Holly Hidalgo-DeKeyzer was a loan officer at Hibernia Bank; now she is EVP/regional president at Investar Bank. I watched Charlie Cole put together a group to develop the Country Club of Louisiana and go on to make Santa Maria a success. I watched as Tommy Spinosa began creating Rouzan and Perkins Rowe. I can remember when Kevin Nguyen came to my office to talk about one of his first single-family developments. I watched as Alvarez and DSLD developed into the major players they are today. I can remember helping Princeton Bardwell’s son, Scott, when he first began to build and develop. I can remember when Donnie Jarreau was an agent living off commissions, now he has Jarreau Real Estate and the JRE Private Equity Group.

I have felt a part of all these stories by being able to write about them. My association with Business Report has influenced the growth of my firm, from when I started in a one room office. I am blessed that my assistant, Susan Brown, has been with me for 40-plus years, blessed to have brought in Wesley Moore as a partner, and later Craig Davenport.

So, I want to say thanks to Rolfe, Julio and JR, and all the others at Business Report for letting me be a part of it. Congrats on 40 years!

Tom Cook of Cook, Moore, Davenport and Associates has been an independent real estate appraiser for more than 20 years.

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