The South Florida representative wants to declare two new state birds instead: The American Flamingo and the scrub-jay.

Cook would drive west to San Francisco, where he and his wife, Donna, lived the other half of the year. Come April, he’d return, as would the birds. “I like being back here with the eagles,” he said.

We remember those we lost in December, including producer Richard Perry, followed by our tributes from the prior months of ...