Sam Fox, a self-made businessman who became a prominent civic leader in his hometown of St. Louis and U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, died in St. Louis on Monday, Dec. 2, surrounded by his family. He was 95 years old.
As founder of Harbour Group, a private, St. Louis-based operating company, Mr. Fox enjoyed remarkable entrepreneurial success. Beginning in 1976 with the daring expansion of a synthetic fiber-manufacturing company into strife-torn Northern Ireland, Mr. Fox built Harbour into a nationally known firm that has now started, acquired or built 249 companies. The firm’s success in its first few decades was especially remarkable because it came largely in traditional, domestic manufacturing industries such as drill bits, medical equipment, and automotive parts, which many observers at one time thought could no longer succeed in the United States.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fox took on a prominent role in the civic life of St. Louis, with top leadership positions at Washington University, the St. Louis Art Museum, Boy Scouts of America, United Way, Barnes Hospital, Civic Progress and other key organizations.
Moderate-to-liberal on social issues but conservative on fiscal ones, Mr. Fox was a prominent supporter of the Republican Party and served as chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition from 2001 to 2006, and — from 2007 to 2009, by appointment of President George W. Bush — as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium. After he had completed his tenure as ambassador, Mr. Fox received high marks for his service from the State Department’s Inspector General. In addition, at the behest of Belgium’s King Albert II, he became just the third American to receive the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown, Belgium’s highest award for public service.
The ambassadorship represented the closing of a remarkable circle for the Fox family. Fox’s mother, Fanny Fox (née Gold), had sailed out of Antwerp, Belgium in steerage in 1921 to meet her husband, Max Fox, who had immigrated to the United States seven years earlier from the Ukraine. Sam, born in 1929, was the last of their five surviving children. To return to Belgium as his country’s Ambassador, Mr. Fox often commented, was the kind of thing that only could have happened in America.
Mr. Fox was born and raised in the rural town of Desloge, Mo., about an hour south of St. Louis, in a home that until he was eight lacked indoor bathrooms and heat except from two stoves. He nonetheless described Desloge as an idyllic community — close-knit, caring and tolerant.
With money he earned in summer jobs canning peas, he attended Washington University. Living near campus with his sister and her husband to save room and board, he earned his B.A. in business administration, with honors, in 1951.
Grateful to Washington University for “opening my eyes to the world as if someone had pulled back a curtain,” Mr. Fox joined the university’s board of trustees in the 1980s, and later served as its vice chairman and as a life trustee. He also chaired the university’s capital campaign for six years. In 2005, the university named its Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts in his honor.
Dedicated as he was to his business and civic pursuits, Mr. Fox pursued his recreational passions with equal zest. Few months went by without getaways for fishing, bird hunting, or skiing, in places as distant as Alaska and Argentina.
Health was another of Mr. Fox’s passions. In the last chapter of his business career, he bought and grew the Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami, Fla. and founded Pritikin ICR (Intensive Cardiac Rehab) so he could promote healthier diets and lifestyles across the country.
Mr. Fox owed his success in business and civic leadership in part to his bold and creative thinking, clear vision, and quick, intuitive grasp of organizational strengths and weaknesses. But his success also grew from his remarkable personality. Intense and passionate, he loved life to the fullest and brought to it a ready sense of humor, refreshing candor, and a willingness to listen to other points of view.
He also had a rock-solid foundation. He called his marriage to his wife of 70 years, Marilyn Widman Fox, “the best contract I ever made.” Their relationship was a deep partnership. They relied on each other for counsel, celebrated each other’s successes, and drew strength from their bond to weather the inevitable challenges of life. To their last days together, their love for each other was obvious.
Mr. Fox is survived by a daughter, Pamela Fox Claman (Aba), of Jerusalem; two sons — Jeff (Lotta) and Steven (Nan), both of St. Louis; and 15 grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife, Marilyn Widman Fox; his eldest daughter, Cheri; and his son, Greg (Merle).
Funeral services will be at 1:15 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8 at Congregation Temple Israel, #1 Alvan Rubin Drive, Creve Coeur. Burial will be private. Shiva will be observed from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8 in Anabeth and John Weil Hall, part of WashU’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts on the Danforth Campus. Contributions in Mr. Fox’s honor are welcome to Washington University or a charity of your choice.
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