Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke announces retirement after 10 years

Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke announced he is retiring after over 10 years of service .

Cooke has served as city manager since June 30, 2014, and will officially retire at the end of February 2025, the city said.

According to the city, Cooke is the longest-serving city manager in Fort Worth's history.

"Serving as city manager has been an incredible and fulfilling journey," Cooke said. "Together, we have built and sustained an organization that is now the 12th largest city in the country, renowned for our exceptional customer service, neighborhood improvements, public-private partnerships, transparency, and commitment to inclusive prosperity."

During Cooke's tenure with the city, he established the FWLab, the city's budgeting and planning division and managed the $2.3 billion city government enterprise and its approximately 8,100 employees, among other accomplishments.

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said Cooke's leadership has left an indelible mark on the city.

"He has continually led with integrity, intelligence, and most importantly always remembering to have fun along the way," Parker said. "His accomplishments are too many to list, but above all, he ensured our city is in the best possible fiscal health of any large city in the country. Without question, I will miss serving alongside my friend when he leaves at the beginning of 2025, but I am incredibly proud of his leadership, and he has earned a celebration as he enters his next chapter."

The city said transition details will be announced soon.

Before his tenure with Fort Worth, Cooke served in Wake County, North Carolina for 13 years as county manager and for four years as deputy county manager.

Fort Worth now joins Dallas in the search for a new city manager. Dallas' former City Manager T.C. Broadnax resigned in February and became the city manager of Austin in March.