World-renowned attorney Bobby Lee Cook passed away on Friday morning (February 19th 2021), according to family members.

Mr. Cook, age 96, was born in the Chattoogaville Community in 1925. 

He served in the United States Army in World War II and practiced law in Chattooga County for more than six decades; Mr. Cook was a criminal defense attorney and has taken on high-profile murder cases which earned him a reputation as one of the best defense attorneys in the nation. 

Mr. Cook was often cited as the inspiration for Andy Griffith’s character on the network TV series “Matlock”; he also defended Savannah’s Jim Williams, in the first of four trials, for the 1981 shooting of Danny Hansford – the case was the inspiration for a book by John Berendt published in 1994, and later the movie version of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” – directed by Clint Eastwood.

Mr. Cook was estimated to have won 80% of his murder trials and in addition to his time as an attorney, he represented Chattooga County in the Georgia General Assembly.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced at this time.

(WZQZ Chattooga County Radio)