Autumn 2010: Campaign Chronicle

Bill and Carol Fox, whose relationship with Emory dates to 1979, have made a major gift to support several schools and units.

Jon Rou

Emory Icon Creates A Heartfelt Legacy

Certain relationships have profound effects. The bond that former Emory University administrator Bill Fox 79PhD and his wife, Carol, have with Emory is one of those.

In recognition of the love they have for the University and to honor the close friendships they made here, the Foxes have established a $1 million bequest that will benefit six areas on campus close to their hearts.

“It is not always easy to talk about love for an institution, but love is the only word that does justice to our overwhelming devotion to Emory,” Bill Fox says. “I wish we had more money so we could leave more to support every aspect of the University. I love it all.”

Half of the gift will go to the Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry at Emory College of Arts and Sciences. This gift honors Emory Board of Trustees members Lynn Stahl 76C and Wendell Reilly 80C as well as Mary Laney Reilly 81C 00T. Gifts of $100,000 each will go to these Emory areas:

• James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies to honor Emory President Emeritus James T. Laney 94H and Berta Laney 94H
• Division of Campus Life, divided between Volunteer Emory to honor Trustee Laura Hardman 67C and the Dobbs ATO Scholarship in honor of Trustee Ben F. Johnson III 65C
• Robert W. Woodruff Library to honor Emory
• cardiology great and Trustee Emeritus Linton Bishop 47M and June Bishop
• Michael C. Carlos Museum to honor Trustee
• Emeritus James Sibley 92H, Karen Sibley, and family
• Emory Alumni Scholarship Fund to honor Trustee Emeritus Brad Currey 01H, Sally Currey, the late Trustee Emeritus John McIntyre 51B, and Joan McIntyre

The honorees are among the many Emory administrators, students, alumni, and friends with whom the Foxes became close during his long tenure. Fox served as dean and vice president of campus life from 1979 until 1991, and as vice president for institutional advancement (now development and alumni relations) from 1991 until his retirement in 2005. (See related story, page 10.)

“My hope is that each one of them will recognize what they have meant to our lives and to our time at Emory,” Fox says of the honorees.

Laney appointed Fox to both of his vice presidential posts at Emory, and the Laneys maintain a close relationship with the Foxes.

“Bill and Carol Fox’s devotion and service to Emory are legendary, and their planned gift to the University is a remarkably generous expression of that lifelong love,” Laney says. “Beloved by generations of Emory alumni, they have been Berta’s and my dear friends since soon after we became associated with Emory. In light of all they mean to Emory, we are all the more moved by their decision to designate a portion of their legacy to the Laney School of Graduate Studies.”