Fort Worth pilot, pawnbroker and art collector A.C. "Ace" Cook died Moday of pancreatic cancer. Mr. Cook’s impressive "Hockshop" collection of early Texas art has been on display at his Bull Ring cafe at the stockyards for years, with occasional loans to musums. Born in 1935 in in Eastland County, Cook was a pilot until quitting during a strike, then ran a chain of pawnshops, where he began collecting the early Texas art others were discarding. He sold the business in 1998, then in 2003, bought and renovated a 1910-era saloon at 112 E. Exchange Avenue, decorating it with 70 or so paintings from more than 400 in his collection.
A.C. Cook, Hockshop art collector, dies
