Tribute: Devoted Friend
Carol Fox shared her husband's love of Emory
Carol Lewis Fox, wife of the late William H. “Bill” Fox, died unexpectedly May 12, 2016.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Carol Fox (shown at right with her husband) graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where she and her husband met as students. The couple was married in 1966 and moved to Georgia in 1971 for Bill Fox to pursue a PhD at Emory’s Candler School of Theology, the beginning of their deep and longstanding relationships with Emory and Atlanta.
Carol Fox was a dedicated second grade teacher at Christ the King School for many years, and more recently, a tutor at the International Community School in Decatur. From the start of her husband’s career at Emory in 1974 until his retirement in 2005, Fox was an indispensable ally in her husband’s work, and he often referred to her as the “unsung hero” of his accomplishments at Emory.
The Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry at Emory is named in honor of the couple in tribute to their long and devoted service. As beloved as Bill Fox was at Emory, Carol Fox was his inseparable counterpart, says Martine Watson Brownley, professor of English and founding director of the Fox Center.
“What Bill would tell you is that he couldn’t do what he did without her, and that was true. She was very kind and thoughtful, and she and Bill were very humble. They were just down-to-earth people, and they meant so much to so many people at Emory.”
Marjorie Nunn 61C, who worked with Bill Fox as an administrator for the Robert T. Jones, Jr. Scholarship program, came to know Carol Fox well during those years.
“Carol was just was so like Bill, a real people person, very genuine and very loyal,” Nunn says. “They were totally devoted to each other; Carol went to every Emory event with Bill and was such a supporter for Emory.”
In 2010, the Foxes established a bequest that will benefit six areas on campus close to their hearts. Half of the gift will go to the Fox Center, while the rest will be divided equally among the Laney Graduate School, the Division of Campus Life, the Robert W. Woodruff Library, the Michael C. Carlos Museum, and the Emory Alumni Scholarship Fund.
