Biola University’s 95th annual Missions Conference commemorated the legacy of former university president Clyde Cook by renaming the conference in his honor. This name change also comes after the recent closure of the Cook School of Intercultural Studies in the summer of 2024.
Current President Barry Corey reflected on the change last Wednesday, Mar. 19 during the first session of the 2025 Clyde & Anna Belle Cook Missions Conference, meditating on Clyde Cook’s extensive ministry and lasting impact on Biola’s campus.
FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO BIOLA
Clyde Cook was born in 1935 in Hong Kong. He grew up under the resilience and faith of a long line of Christian missionaries. At the age of six, Clyde Cook and his family survived a bombing by Japanese aircraft, after which they were separated. He and his mother endured a grueling six months in a Japanese concentration camp, until they were released by a deal with an American prisoner exchange program. They were reunited with Clyde Cook’s Scottish sea-captain father in South Africa in 1942.
Soon after, the Cooks moved to the United States, settling in Laguna Beach, California. Clyde Cook grew to be a standout basketball player, receiving multiple scholarship offers from various major universities, including the University of California, Los Angeles. Having recently surrendered his life to Christ at a summer camp, Clyde Cook instead chose to attend Biola University, where he would receive a bachelor’s degree in Bible, Theology and Ministry. It was on Biola’s original campus in Los Angeles where he met his wife, Anna Belle, and the two fell in love. They married shortly after graduation.
Clyde Cook went on to receive his Master of Divinity degree from Biola’s Talbot School of Theology. He also received a Doctor of Missiology degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California in 1974.
FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO BIOLA, AGAIN
From 1963 to 1967, the Cooks briefly served as missionaries in the Philippines before returning to Biola’s campus, where Clyde Cook would serve as an assistant professor of missions. Not long after, he was appointed as director of Biola’s nationally acclaimed Intercultural Studies program.
Corey also spoke of Clyde Cook’s extensive work in global missions. Traveling to over 72 countries, Clyde Cook established various theological education and extension programs, using athletics and drama as a method of evangelism. He was later appointed as President of One Challenge International, a mission-sending and support agency based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
It was on June 1, 1982, that Clyde Cook was elected by the board of trustees in a unanimous vote as the seventh president of Biola University, succeeding J. Richard Chase.
“25 years: a quarter of the century,” said Corey. “Dr. Cook, supported by his faithful wife, Anna Belle, led this university through a season of growth, maturing Biola as an institution into the comprehensive, Christ-centered, spirit-led community; intellectually serious, rigorous about what we do; [and] missionally faithful.”
Clyde Cook was one of California’s longest-serving university presidents, serving Biola University from 1982 to 2007. Under his leadership, Biola grew from a small Bible college to one of the largest evangelical universities in the country. He was even known to many as “Mr. Biola.”
Corey highlighted Clyde Cook’s humility and Christ-like demeanor with a brief anecdote from when he was entering the university presidency. Clyde Cook, with his wife Anna Belle, chose to depart from the presidency during Biola’s 99th year, symbolically leaving Biola’s next century in the hands of the next president, Corey and his wife Paula.
“This speaks to the humility, the graciousness, the Christ-honoring spirit that Dr. Cook had,” said Corey.
It was on April 11, 2008, after returning from a talk in Houston, Texas to his home in Fullerton California, that Clyde Cook passed away due to a heart attack. A memorial service was held on April 19 at First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton with over 2,000 people in attendance. A memorial service was also held on April 20 at Biola’s campus, with over 3,500 people in attendance, including students and faculty.
“It’s been 18 years, and I feel like this friend of mine is still in our life here at Biola,” said Corey. “And in many ways, he is.”
A LIVING COOK LEGACY
Clyde Cook’s legacy lives on in his grandson, Tyler Botka, a senior business administration major at Biola University. Botka, along with his family, were also recognized during the conference session.
“My family was very humbled and grateful that Dr. Barry Corey chose to honor the legacy of Dr. Cook and Anna Belle,” said Botka, in a written communication after the conference session. “Dr. Cook and Anna Belle always gave God the glory and sought to selflessly serve the Lord in their daily life.”
Before Botka, three generations of the Cook family graduated from Biola University: Clyde Cook’s son Craig Cook, their daughter Laura (Cook) Botka, and four Cook grandchildren. Botka is set to graduate in May 2025.
A HISTORIC PRAYER
Biola Board of Trustees member Stan Jantz, who served as vice chair of the board under Clyde Cook, prayed a blessing over the conference and its new name. Jantz read a prayer from one of Cook’s favorite books, “A Diary of Private Prayer” by John Baillie, gifted to Jantz shortly after he became a Biola trustee.
Biola University’s Missions Conference, now the Clyde and Anna Belle Cook Missions Conference, is a student-led Bible conference held during the spring academic semester, focused on executing Christ’s Great Commission from Matthew 28:18-20.
