Fox retires

After thirty-four years with the University, William H. Fox, senior vice president for external affairs, retired January 17.

“Bill Fox has earned the affection and gratitude of generations of Emory alumni, staff, and faculty members for his remarkable spirit and exemplary love of his alma mater,” said President James W. Wagner. “He has left an indelible mark on our University, for which we can be very grateful.”

Fox came to Emory in 1971 to pursue a doctorate in religion and literature and began his administrative career in 1974 in the Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts. “When I came to Emory, I found a place that held, at its deepest core, values that were similar to my own,” Fox says. “That alignment has been magic to me all these years.”

In 1979, Fox completed his PhD and became Emory’s first dean of Campus Life. He was named vice president for Campus Life three years later, where he served for more than a decade and helped oversee a construction boom that yielded several major new buildings. After joining the Institutional Advancement division (now the Office of Development and University Relations) in 1991, Fox led a capital campaign that raised $420 million. During his tenure, IA raised more than $2 billion in gifts, pledges and planned gifts.

Fox says he saw Emory “open its doors” during his career. “Emory has become much more concerned with outreach and concern for the external community,” he says. “But I also saw it become much more diverse and open, which makes it a more rich community.”

In addition to serving as an administrator, Fox taught an undergraduate course in literature and religion each year.

Fox is quick to credit his wife of thirty-eight years, Carol, calling her the “unsung hero” of his work at Emory.

“Emory gave me the chance to travel the world, to make close friends with people I would have otherwise never met,” Fox says. “It intertwined my greatest passion: community, service, and education of the needs of the world.”

 

 

 

 
 

 

© 2005 Emory University