David Cook

David Somerville Cook (25 January 194419 September 2020) was an English-born solicitor and politician. He was a founding member of the non-sectarian, liberal-centre Alliance Party in Northern Ireland. He served on Belfast City Council from 1973 to 1986, and in 1978 he became the first non-Unionist Lord Mayor of Belfast since 1898. He was elected as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly of 1982 and served on that body until its abolishment in 1986. He was appointed Chair of the Police Authority of Northern Ireland in 1994 and held that position until his resignation from the role in 1996. Early life Cook was born on 25 January 1944, to Francis John Granville Cook and Jocelyn McKay ( Stewart) in Leicester, England. As a child, he moved to Northern Ireland with his parents and sisters after his father was appointed headmaster of Campbell College in 1954. Professional career Cook worked as a solicitor, eventually becoming a senior partner at Sheldon and Stewart Solicitors. Political career In 1970, Cook was a founder member of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), a non-sectarian party, while he was elected to the party's Central Executive in 1971.