Following are excerpts from the Roger Cooke website obituary, courtesy of Stephanie Reeves, and from the website of the artist.

Tuesday morning, March 27th, 2012, Roger Cooke won his three year battle with Multiple Myeloma cancer and is now at rest in his heavenly home.

Roger Cooke's paintings, prints and sculptures are displayed in homes, businesses, and museums across the country. His murals are scattered throughout the United States from West to East, earning him the title "Johnny Appleseed of America's small-town murals".
Thorough research was part of every creative effort, each work executed with skill and care. Authenticity gave Cooke's work authority. His artistic talent and love for his subject gave it life.

As a teenager, his education included an initial interest to pursue a formal art career by enrolling in Art Instruction School's Correspondence Course. After working in the woods for a year, this encouraged him to enroll at Portland State University's art program for two years and then on to the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles for four years, where he majored in illustration, graduating in 1970. He joined Jackson-Zender Studio in Indianapolis, IN for almost two years before venturing to Oregon to begin free-lancing in illustration.

After being introduced to Husberg Fine Arts Gallery of Sedona, AZ in 1974, Cooke began his fine arts oil painting career, painting in oils on masonite. Even after Husberg's Gallery moved to Scottsdale AZ, Cooke's "signature style" of paintings continued to be sought after. This style of oil painting that looks so realistic as to be a photograph, but upon closer examination have a "wash" background and high quality realistic figures and horses, set Cooke apart from other artists. National Western Art magazines such as Art West, Southwest Art, Wild West, and Bugle magazine have featured his paintings.

The Oregon Sesquicentennial re-enactment of the Oregon Trail and the re-enactment of the Lewis and Clark historic Expedition during 2003-2006 gave Cooke a great opportunity to again use his illustrating talents to produce hundreds of illustrations about these incredible historic events. Robert Carriker's informative text and judicious use of quotes from William Clark's journals impart both a historian's perspective AND a sense of actually being part of the expedition.

The Washington State Historical Society commissioned Cooke to illustrate William Clark's diary accounts, illustrations that depicted the Corp of Discovery's journey in the State of Washington.

The following is from the artist:

Roger Cooke has been working as a professional artist since 1968. His career began as an illustrator while he was still attending art school, and he has worked as an illustrator in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, and Portland, Oregon.

In 1971, he sold his first major painting and this was through Kennedy Galleries in New York City. He had been developing his paintings on a part time basis, but in 1974, he started painting full time for galleries and shows, and since then has been involved with major galleries and shows throughout the United States.

His education includes two years at Portland State University, and four years at The Art Center College of Design in San Francisco, where he majored in illustration.

He is noted for oil paintings and pastel portraits of the Inland Plateau Indians of Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, oil paintings of the Oregon Trail, scenery and wildlife paintings of Oregon, and historic illustrations for interpretive companies.

Periodicals such as Southwest Art, Art West, Wild West, The Illustrator, and Bugle Magazine have featured his work.

Publishers who have published his work include The Greenwich Workshop, Leanin' Tree, and Sunrise Publications.