Baylor Mourns Passing of Business School Faculty Member

WACO, Texas (July 16, 2014) – Baylor University is mourning the passing of Joe Cox, Ph.D., longtime professor of management in the Hankamer School of Business. Dr. Cox, who was 67, passed away suddenly Sunday, July 13, 2014, while on a family vacation in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Services for Dr. Cox will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 19, at Woodway United Methodist Church, 21000 Woodway Drive. Visitation with the family will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 18, at Grace Gardens Funeral Home, 8220 Woodway Drive.

Dr. Cox's obituary is available on the Waco Trib website. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Linda; their three children, Collin Joe Cox and wife, Jacquelyn, of Houston; Cody Brent Cox and wife, Amy Lou, of San Marcos; and Clint Tyler Cox and wife, Shae, of Las Vegas; and three grandchildren, among other loved ones.

Dr. Cox taught at Baylor for 37 years, where he considered teaching his craft and his life's work. He helped shape the professional lives of thousands of students.

Terry Maness, D.B.A., dean of the Hankamer School of Business, said the passing of Dr. Cox is "particularly poignant to me" as the two professors began their careers together at Baylor in 1977.

"Joe excelled in the classroom and was loved by his students," Maness said. "His lasting legacy is our program in Human Resource Management which he championed and was particularly successful in developing numerous industry relationships. Joe will be greatly missed by his colleagues, our staff and the thousands of students who he taught and mentored for more than three decades. Our deepest prayers are with Joe's wife, Linda, and their sons, Collin, Cody and Clint, as we grieve alongside them in their loss."

Blaine McCormick, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the department of management, recalled that Dr. Cox was the first person he ever met at Baylor.

"I was a young HR professional in Dallas, and my immediate supervisor was scheduled to speak at the Christmas banquet for Joe's beloved Baylor Association of Human Resources (BAHR) student organization," McCormick said. "My supervisor got called away to corporate, and he asked me to drive down to Waco to fill in for him. I met Joe that evening, and we would become faculty colleagues 8 years later. My first impression of Joe was of him connecting his students with industry professionals, and this remained a constant 24 years later. No one I know did more for our Baylor HR students than Joe Cox. He impacted hundreds and hundreds of careers."

Kendall Artz, Ph.D., chair of the department of entrepreneurship, also praised Dr. Cox for his devotion to students.

"For nearly four decades, Joe Cox dedicated much of his life to his students. Literally thousands of students were taught and mentored by Dr. Cox, and as evidenced by the many teaching awards he won and by the overwhelmingly positive feedback he received, he had a huge impact on their lives," Artz said. "Dr. Cox's commitment to his students and his excellence in the classroom will continue to be a model for all of us faculty."

A native of Stillwater, Oklahoma, Dr. Cox earned his Bachelor of Science, Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. degrees from Oklahoma State University.

A beloved teacher at Baylor, Dr. Cox received numerous accolades from his students, his peers and the University. In 1994, he was the first recipient of the Collins Outstanding Professor Award, given annually to a single professor at Baylor University for outstanding service as a teacher. He also received the Herbert H. Reynolds Award for Exemplary Service, was regularly recognized by Mortar Board as an outstanding professor mentor and was honored (with his son, Cody) with the Global Forum Best Symposium Award by the Academy of Management. He served as chairman of Baylor's Faculty Senate and for many years chaired the Business School scholarship committee.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Cox served as the faculty sponsor for the Baylor Association for Human Resources, which he founded. He was a member of the Academy of Management and the Heart of Texas Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management and was a longtime active member of Woodway United Methodist Church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Dr. Joe A. Cox MS-HRM Scholarship (MS-HRM Scholarships #05-70430), The Texas A&M Foundation, 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, TX 77840; the Hankamer School of Business Endowed Scholarship Fund, Baylor University Development, One Bear Place #97050, Waco, TX 76798-7050; or Woodway United Methodist Church, 21000 Woodway Drive, Waco, TX 76712.