Wilce Cooke to Receive Andrews University Honorary Degree

Wilce LeVan Cooke, former three-time Mayor of the City of Benton Harbor and 50-year Lakeland Hospital health professional will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Andrews University this coming Sunday, May 6, 2018. Cooke’s degree will be conferred at the 11 a.m. Commencement service, which is part of the entire May 4-6 spring graduation weekend ceremonies at Andrews University, the premier institution of higher education in Berrien County. This service is for students graduating from the College of Arts & Sciences. Cooke will be the first African-American citizen of Benton Harbor to receive this distinctive honor from Andrews University. Other local recipients of honorary degrees from Andrews University includes Elisha Gray II (1977), Harry Gast (1989), Fred Upton (1992), and Stephen Upton (2014). The first honorary degrees were given by Andrews University in 1958.

Cooke was born on June 18th, 1938 in Benton Harbor to Elizabeth Walker. He and his three sisters, Frances Koonce, Rebie Eichelberger and Margo Norwood, grew up in the Flats enclave of Benton Harbor before the years and irreversible changes of urban renewal. He attended Calvin Britain Elementary, Bard Middle School and graduated from Benton Harbor High School in 1958 at a time when the Benton Harbor Area Schools were still known to be among the best in the State of Michigan. His role model and surrogate father during his high school years was Charles Gray, Truant Officer at Benton Harbor High School.

In 1968 he obtain his LPN degree from Oakland Community College, Rochester, Michigan and began a fifty-year long and distinguished service and career to his beloved community hospital, Mercy Center, which later became Lakeland Health Systems. He also pursued and obtained in 1975 an Associates Degree in Political Science and Sociology from Lake Michigan College and a Bachelors Degree from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1976.

Since 1977, Cooke has been actively involved in the political, public and civic life of his local community and beyond, including service as mayor of Benton Harbor from 1981 to 1987 and 2004 to 2011. During this time he had the honor of meeting four American Presidents – Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. He also testified to the 95th Congress of the United States on Behalf of the National League of Cities, and held a variety of political, civic and community leadership roles at the local, county, state and national levels. In 2013, he founded the Wilce L. Cooke Foundation as a way to provide healthcare scholarships to Benton Harbor area residents and enhance healthcare education and health and wellness outreach in Benton Harbor and Southwest Michigan.

The other honoree at the 2018 spring graduation ceremonies at Andrews University is Calvin B. Rock, retired general vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Select graduation services will be livestreamed. For details, visit andrews.edu/graduation. Founded in 1874, Andrews University is the flagship institution of higher education for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and offers more than 200 areas of study including advanced degrees. Its main campus is in Berrien Springs, Michigan, but the University also provides instruction at colleges and universities in 19 countries around the world.

All are invited to the graduation services on the campus of Andrews University and to a post-graduation celebration for Wilce Cooke at Babe’s Restaurant, 656 Riverview Drive, Benton harbor, MI on Sunday, May 6, 2018 between 5 - 8 pm.