Former Utah U.S. Representative, gubernatorial candidate Merrill Cook has died
Cook also ran for several other elected offices.
Merrill Cook was a very familiar figure in Utah politics. He passed away on March 9, 2026. A cause of death was not immediately released to the public, but it was evidently peaceful.
During Cook’s early forays into politics, he was essentially an Independent perennial candidate, most notably for Mayor of Salt Lake City in 1985. His breakthrough came in the 1988 campaign for Governor of Utah. Cook finished in a distant third place behind Republican incumbent Norman H. Bangerter and Democratic former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, but still performed remarkably well given the lack of backing from a major political party.
Four years later, Cook finished in second place in another three-way race for Governor, behind Republican future Environmental Protection Agency Administration and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt and ahead of Democratic nominee Stewart Hanson. In 1994, he ran for the United States House of Representatives from the 2nd District of Utah for the first time, again landing in third place, well behind the front-runners in Republican winner Enid Greene Waldholtz and Democratic incumbent Karen Shepherd.
Cook ran for the House again in 1996, but this time he entered the Republican primary. He won the nomination and later the general election that year. Cook won again in 1998, but lost his 2000 bid for re-election in the Republican primary to businessman Derek Smith. Smith was defeated in the general election by Democrat Jim Matheson, son of former Utah Governor Scott M. Matheson and brother of Scott Matheson Jr. an ex-U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia.
Afterward, Cook continued to be politically active. He made an unsuccessful Independent run for Mayor of Salt Lake County in 2004 before making plays for the Republican nods for the U.S. House from Utah’s 3rd District in 2006, the 2nd District in 2008 and for the United States Senate in 2010.
Merrill Cook was a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father Melvin was a noted chemist. They were cousins of the famed Osmond family of musicians.
The younger Cook graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City, followed by the University of Utah and Harvard Business School. Before going into politics, he worked for the management consulting firm Arthur D. Little.
In 1969, Cook married opera singer Camille Sanders. The two had known each other since childhood and had become in-laws when Cook’s sister Virginia married Camille’s brother Gill. Merrill and Camille would have five children. Camille passed away due to Alzheimer’s disease in early 2015.
For their part, Gill and Virginia had six children before Gill died in 2016, also from Alzheimer’s disease. Virginia passed away the following year.