The following was kindly provided to us by Bob's son Brandon, who writes:
"My father, Robert Cox, recently passed away and I thought I'd share his obituary and photo with you to consider for inclusion on your Class of '69 website. I grew up listening to how great Dartmouth was and even attended a homecoming reunion there with him about 10 years ago. He always gave what he could to the class and college fund and we have included that in his obituary to honor him."
Robert Earl Cox, aged 69 years, entered into peace on November 19, 2016 in Reno, Nevada, after a long illness.
Robert, better known as "Bob", was born on May 4, 1947 in Shenandoah, Iowa to parents Ovid Ernest and Jessie Mae (née Eller) Cox.
From a young age, he was a phenomenal athlete. He was a varsity starter for three years for Shenandoah High School teams in football, basketball, and track, serving as a captain of the Mustang teams that were among the state’s finest in the mid 1960s.
Also an accomplished academic, he went on to graduate from Dartmouth College with a degree in geology. Afterwards, during the Vietnam War, he served as a 1st Lieutenant with the Air Force in Bryan, Texas while attending Texas A&M for his Master's Degree in meteorology. It was at this time he forecasted weather patterns for U2 spy plane missions while starting a family.
After school, Bob entered the oil business and began a 35 year mission excelling in environmental science, earning multiple patents along the way, eventually focusing on cleaning up pollution at various sites around the world. This was his passion. His work and wanderlust brought him to remote locations like Midway Island; Diego Garcia; Melbourne, Australia; and Walnut Creek, California. While in Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, he contributed his labor and expertise to restoring the front doors to the landmark Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
After retiring, he found the town of Boulder City, Nevada to be his preferred home, a place of reflection -- dabbling in various interests next to the engineering inspiration of Hoover Dam.
Bob adored cookies and ice cream. He loathed green vegetables and people who were unkind. He believed that everything should be fair and just -- speaking up about it without hesitation or filter -- passionately. He will be best remembered for his supernatural attention to detail, and would have guffawed and clapped in recognition at this popular quote:
"Enjoy the little things in life because one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things."
Bob is survived by his sister Marilyn Campbell and her husband Bill of El Cajon, CA; brother Jim Cox of Maryville, MO; sister Beverly Johnson and her husband Kenneth of Shenandoah, IA; nieces, nephews, many good friends; and his three sons: Brandon and wife Rae of Campbell, CA; Bennett of Denver, CO; and Barrett of Oakland, CA.
In place of memorials, please donate to one of his many favorite things, here are three:
Services will be held in Boulder City, Nevada at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Monday, December 12th, 2016 at 12:40 PM.
A comment about Bob from Julian Reeves:
"Bob was one of my favorite (among many) North Wigwam house mates during freshman year. We shared a statistics class whose instructor was from India. The professor had a heavy accent that Bob found difficult to follow. I sat next to him and would translate what the prof said into Bob's version of standard English. I had had the benefit of having lived in Queens, NY for three years and had gotten used to hearing foreign accents and various NYC dialects of English. I enjoyed being able to provide the service for him. He was a thoughtful and pleasant companion. My condolences to his family."
These classmate obituary pages are our attempt to honor and remember classmates who have passed away. We have attempted to find and share a public obituary and have added some photos and classmate comments. In some cases we have not been able to find an obituary. If you know of an obituary where one is missing, please let us know. If you have a remembrance you think is important to share, please let us know. Comments can be submitted through the Contact Us form on this web site.