(Salt Lake City, UT) — Former Utah Congressman Merrill Cook has passed away. His son says the 79-year-old died peacefully at his Salt Lake City home on Monday. In the early 1970s, he co-founded Cook Slurry Company, which made mining explosives. After running that company for many years, he ran for Congress in the 1990s. He served two terms, representing Utah’s Second Congressional District from 1997 to 2001. He worked to secure land transfers that helped Salt Lake City land the Winter Olympics in 2002.