"I met Philip at his 90 birthday party in December 2009 at Bethany Manor. I was with his good friend Colby Kegley. I can see from Philip's obituary how much they had in common in music and theater, besides math and statistics. Philip told me that day that I must be "pretty special" to be Colby's companion of choice. Everyone had a good party that day with him."
In loving memory of
Charles Philip Cox
December 15, 1919 - June 10, 2012
Charles Philip Cox, Statistics Professor Emeritus of Iowa State University, died June 10, 2012 at Bethany Manor, Story City, Iowa. He was born December 15, 1919 at Linton, Derbyshire, England. He was predeceased by his parents, Herbert and Huldah Cox, one brother, Joseph Cox, and two sisters, Kathleen and Muriel Cox. Survivors include his sister-in-law, Jenny Cox and three nephews, Peter, Christopher, and Simon Cox all of England.
In 1939 he received a B.A. in Mathematics, First Class, from Christ Church College, University of Oxford. During WWII he was a Lieutenant and commanded anti-aircraft number 377 Battery. At the war's end he was awarded a permanent honorary rank of Captain, Royal Artillery. During the war he was withdrawn from active service to attend the Military College of Science. Upon graduation he was awarded a degree of Advanced Fire Control. He later became Head of the British Army Operational Research Section 4A. He returned to his studies at Oxford in 1945, receiving an M.A., Second Class, in 1947. The Ministry of Agriculture then awarded him a Post-Graduate Research Scholarship to the Rothamsted Experimental Station, celebrated for the development of modern statistical theory and its applications. Philip was then appointed the first Head of the newly formed Section of Statistics at the National Institute for Dairying at Reading, Berkshire and while there worked with teams of biologists.
At I.S.U. Philip was Visiting Associate Professor of Statistics from 1959 to 1960, and then received an appointment to Associate Professor in 1961. He was promoted to a full Professorship in 1963. He was a major professor for numerous Ph.D. and M.S. students, taught a wide variety of courses, and wrote the book A Handbook of Introductory Statistical Methods, published by Wiley in 1987. In 1966 he was invited to the NIH Summer Biostatistics Institute at Yale University. He was elected a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and wrote many papers on Statistical Methodology.
He was active in local theater, University Theater, Stars Over Veisha, and ACTORS as well as Summer Stock in Clear Lake. Philip was a member of the Ames Conservation Council. He enjoyed gardening, photographing wildflowers, singing, and sports competition: including sailing, tennis, pool, darts, Liars's dice, and shove ha' penny, and coaching a student soccer league. He was a member of a Chess Club and a Dance Club and showed great compassion for stray animals.
Philip's cremains were interred in the Iowa State University Cemetery (plot 48F) June 14, 2012. A Memorial Service will be held on Friday July 20, 2012 at 11 A.M. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames, 1015 North Hyland Avenue. Online condolences may be made at www.grandonfuneralandcremationcare.com
Tributes
"120616 I was in the same department as Philip, first as a graduate student, then as a faculty member, at ISU. I remember very clearly the morning -- maybe a Saturday morning, or a Monday morning -- in Beardshear Hall coming down the stairs from the north and being met at the bottom by Philip and Jane who told me they had married in the Memorial Union chapel the day before, or so. They looked very happy. In later years my husband and I would meet at their apartment on Hyland Ave. and play tiddly-winks! I have made a point to own that game ever since. We had a lot of fun. I am very sorry Philip died. I think he may have had a prior marriage, and I know Jane and he divorced later. I knew him mostly during the happy years of their marriage. I am glad he had a long life. Amazingly he rode into Ames on his bicycle even into his 80s! He had a gift for friendship as shown by all those who attended his holiday party in December 2011. holly.fuchs@gmail.com"