School mourns passing of Mary Bobbitt-Cooke
| August 20, 2010 | |
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Mary Bobbitt-Cooke, MPH, retired director of the N.C. Office of Healthy Carolinians and Health Education, died on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010, at her home in Hillsborough, N.C.
Ms. Mary Bobbitt-Cooke
A 1986 graduate of the UNC public health school’s Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, Bobbitt-Cooke served the state through the Division of Public Health in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. For 12 years, she was director of the Office of Healthy Carolinians and Health Education (OHC/HE). Healthy Carolinians is a statewide network of public-private partnerships working to meet North Carolina’s health objectives of community health improvement through policy changes, community programs and systems changes. As director, Bobbitt-Cooke was responsible for the administration of community health assessments conducted by local health departments. During that time, as head of Health Education, she directed regional consultants who provided technical assistance and consultation to health educators in local health departments. “Without Mary’s leadership, neither the state nor the counties in North Carolina would have strong public-private community partnerships for addressing public health problems,” said Brenda Motsinger, MS, RD, former chief of the health promotion section in the Division of Public Health and now director of special projects for UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. “Mary was not just an advocate for community engagement; she made sure that action followed. Whenever I hear the words ‘Healthy Carolinians,’ Mary’s name always comes to mind.” Most recently, Bobbitt-Cooke was executive director of the Healthy Carolinians Foundation, the financial arm for Healthy Carolinians. The Foundation aims to bring business and industry into community health improvement.
In addition, Bobbitt-Cooke was an adjunct instructor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Department of Health Behavior and Health Education. She also served on the Scientific Advisory Council (now the Steering Committee) for the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Her latest work includes a book chapter that she wrote about microfinancing as a powerful tool for community organizing in Igniting the Power of Community: The Role of CBOs and NGOs in Global Public Health (edited by Paul Gaist, 2010).”Mary has always been in the forefront of community health education advocacy,” said Jo Anne Earp, ScD, professor and chair of the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education. “She inspired our students when she spoke about the value of the skills they were learning. She was incredibly proud of her profession, and we, in turn, were proud to claim her as an alumna who cared passionately and never let up in her efforts to make the world a better place.” “To all of you who collaborated with Mary to help achieve the vision of Healthy Carolinians, thank you,” said her husband, Christopher Cooke. Plans for a memorial service are pending. In lieu of flowers, it was Bobbitt-Cooke’s wish that donations be made to one of the following organizations where memorial accounts have been established in her name.The Foundation for Healthy Carolinians
PO Box 58275 Raleigh, NC 27658-8275 Contact: Debi Nelson at: 919-707-5155 Directors of Health Promotion and Education UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.
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