Lewis Edwin Cook, AB, cum laude, '71 ('72), a former denizen of Clavery Hall and Quincy House, died February 12, 2026 at Forest Hills Hospital in Queens, New York, after suffering a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage. He is survived by his two loving daughters, Sachio Cook and Alice Mio Cook, his ex-wife, Michiko Takahashi, and two siblings, Jan Cook Mack and Blair Cook.

Lewis was an expert in medieval Japanese poetry and, in particular, Murasaki Shikibu’s 10th century The Tale of Genji, as well as the first imperial waka anthology, Kokinshu, and the writings of Sôgi, a linked-verse poet (1421-1502). Lewis taught Japanese and Chinese literature at Queens College (CUNY) from 1994 to 2020. He secured his M.A. (1978) and PhD (2000) both at Cornell, in Japanese and Chinese Literature. He is the author of many articles regarding Japanese literature and is widely recognized for combining the best of Japanese archival work and Western philology.

Born October 14, 1949, he spent some early years in Taiwan (where his father worked for USAID) and became conversant in Chinese. After graduating from Harvard, he lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong (working for newspapers there), and Japan, where he worked as a translator. He traveled to Thailand and Laos in the midst of the Vietnam War, which he adamantly opposed. He returned briefly to the States (1974 -1978) to earn his master's degree at Cornell. Then he returned to Japan, translating and working on his PhD thesis. In September 1985, he married Michiko and lived with her and their two daughters in Yokohama. In 1994, Lewis and his family moved to Forest Hills where he taught at Queens College.

Enigmatic, brilliant, contradictory, witty, and very kind. At times, an obsessive perfectionist. Lewis practiced calligraphy with paint brush and ancient inkstones, as well as pens and inks too numerous to count. His letters and postcards would change color as he progressed through his inks and pens. A favorite poet of his, not surprisingly, was Emily Dickinson, as she had her own system of writing which he read in the printed facsimile edition that preserved her handwritten notations. Lewis was a lifelong lover of books and their authors, including Junichiro Tanizaki, Marcel Proust, Jacques Derrida, and numerous Japanese medieval poet-wanderers, writing linked poetry (renga).