Laurie Perry Cookingham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laurie Perry Cookingham, more commonly known as L.P. Cookingham or L. Perry Cookingham, (October 23, 1896-July 22, 1992) was a noted public administrator in the United States having served as City Manager of Kansas City, Missouri for 19 years, a tenure longer than anyone else has served as city manager in any city in the United States. This distinctively long tenure earned him the respect of many of his colleagues some of whom dubbed him the “Dean of City Managers.”
Cookingham served as the first City Manager of Saginaw, Michigan when that city adopted a new city charter providing for the council-manager form of government in 1935.[1] He served in this post from January 6, 1936 until May 14, 1940.
Kansas City was reeling from the aftermath of corrupt administration under the administration of Tom Pendergast which was rife with political patronage and scandals. Following the city election of 1940, a new city council hired Cookingham to reform Kansas City’s administration. He took office on June 10, 1940.
Cookingham served as City Manager until August 23, 1959, a 19 year tenure which still stands as the record for the longest tenure for a city manager in any US city.[2] His reforms in Kansas City were noted for bringing about greater efficiency and less bureaucracy. The freeway system in the metropolitan Kansas City area is credited in large part to City Manager Cookingham’s planning.
The University of Missouri, Kansas City conferred upon him the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters on May 12, 1979.[3]
In 1986, the City of Saginaw invited Cookingham to participate in celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the council-manager city charter in recognition of his contributions made to that city in which he was also highly regarded. During the occasion, a time capsule was buried near the entrance to Saginaw’s City Hall scheduled to be opened in 2036.
L.P. Cookingham died on July 22, 1992 in Kansas City at the age of 95. He was buried at Forest Hill-Calvary Cemetery in Kansas City.[4]
