Born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1921, Yuri Kutschuk and his family emigrated to Milan, Italy and then to Berlin, Germany in 1923. While in Berlin, Yuri’s father, George Kutschuk sold photographs to European publications. Yuri’s Aunt, Cecile Kutschuk, worked at the Associated Press, with Wilson Hicks, who later became Executive Editor in charge of photography for LIFE Magazine. In 1936, after Hitler’s rise to power, the family fled back to Italy, where they then had to flee from Mussolini’s regime to Bombay, India. In Bombay they lived in the Outram Private Hotel owned by his uncle, George Azrilenko. In 1939, the family emigrated to Seattle from Japan on the “Hiye Mare.” Once in the U.S. his name was anglicized, Jerry Cooke.

Cecile Kutschuk, who had studied photojournalism at the Rhine University, emigrated to the United States in 1935, and started a photo agency in New York City called Pix, Inc. She gave Jerry his first camera, a Rolleiflex. Cecile Kutschuk put him to work in the Pix darkroom, where he apprenticed with photographers Alfred Eisenstaedt, George Karger, and others. In 1945, on V-Day in New York, Jerry Cooke apprenticed with Eisenstaedt when “Eisie” photographed the iconic image of the nurse and sailor kissing in Times Square.

Cooke had several cover stories in LIFE between the forties and sixties, including LIFE En Espanol. He also did regular work for Fortune, Colliers, Time, Sport’s Illustrated and European Publications. In 1948, Cooke, Robert Capa, and Tim Gidal traveled to Israel to photograph the new state for the book, This Is Israel, written by I. F. Stone.