Jack Kent Cooke

Thirteen weeks before he died, Jack Kent Cooke changed his will to deny fourth wife Marlene Ramallo Cooke any part of his estate, but the document creates a charitable foundation to help gifted and underprivileged children, according to papers filed Wednesday by Cooke's lawyers. The will filed in Fauquier County (Va.) Circuit Court also could set in motion the eventual sale of Cooke's Washington Redskins, while positioning his one surviving son to be the team's buyer.

Of all the stories on the vanity of former Los Angeles sports owner Jack Kent Cooke, this one probably tops the list: Cooke suffered a heart attack in his Forum office. The only other person in the room was Dr. Robert Kerlan. The famed orthopedist got Cooke stretched out on a couch, then removed Cooke's dentures before applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. As Kerlan told the story: "The first thing Jack said when he came to was: 'Oh, God, Bob, please don't tell anyone I wear dentures.'

I worked for Jack Kent Cooke from the summer of 1967 (before the Forum opened) until he sold out to Jerry Buss in 1979. It was ironic that Bob Oates wrote one of The Times stories after Cooke's death. It was Oates who wrote a feature story in The Times on June 10, 1969, that Cooke was in financial trouble and was looking to sell his teams and the Forum. History proved Oates and The Times wrong. There was never a follow-up story in The Times.

Friends of Washington Redskin owner Jack Kent Cooke eulogized him as a charmer, a bully, a bon vivant and keen competitor during his invitation-only funeral in a tiny country church Thursday. More than 400 family members and friends, including some of pro football's biggest names, filled the pews and extra chairs or stood along the walls of Trinity Episcopal Church for the 45-minute service. Cooke, 84, died Sunday of heart disease.

Never did Los Angeles have another sports owner quite like Jack Kent Cooke, who died Sunday at 84. A media favorite for his unpredictable interviews, he was a master quipster, often cantankerous and insulting, sometimes outrageous, always incisive . . . and never dull. Today's Morning Briefing is dedicated solely to the best Jack Kent Cooke stories. * The vending machine: Early in the evening of Dec.

What happens now to Jack Kent Cooke's treasure trove? Cooke died Sunday at the age of 84, leaving behind a myriad of investments ranging from the Washington Redskins pro football team to the Chrysler building in New York, the Los Angeles Daily News, a Kentucky thoroughbred breeding farm, plus real estate stretching from Riverside County to Virginia.

When billionaire businessmen buy into major league sports, few succeed. It's harder for pro teams to win than they--or their fans--suspect. It takes a lot of time to learn football or baseball or basketball. And a business genius who is busy piling millions on top of millions, year after year, can't find the days or hours he needs to master competitive sports. Jack Kent Cooke was different.

Jack Kent Cooke, the dandy who died Sunday, was watching a hockey game one night in 1973 with the distinguished Dr. Robert Kerlan, when a phone call came from Cooke's personal doctor. Cooke had just taken a physical examination for a life-insurance policy. The doctor said he was pleased to report that Cooke had "the constitution of a 25-year-old man and the heart of an ox." Cooke hung up the phone and had a massive heart attack.

Jack Kent Cooke, a onetime traveling encyclopedia salesman who scrapped to become a billionaire media and real estate tycoon and an irascible but unforgettable sports impresario here and in the nation's capital, died Sunday of a heart attack in Washington, D.C. He was 84. As an owner of pro basketball, football and hockey teams, Cooke reigned over the Los Angeles Lakers' first National Basketball Assn.

My lasting memory of the man will be the fact we couldn't have done it without him. He saw the big picture, what went into winning championships. I think he made you better at your job, and I know this, he made a lot of memories possible for both the fans and for myself." BOBBY BEATHARD, Charger General Manager and Former Redskin GM * I don't think there's any question that when he bought [the Lakers] it was at a really critical time, not only for this franchise but professional sports.