DOAK C. COX / 1917-2003
UH scientist set up
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Doak C. Cox, of Honolulu, founding father of the University of Hawaii Tsunami, Water Resource and Environmental centers, died April 21 at home. Cox, 86, suffered from lung cancer.
Dr. Jackie Miller, a friend and associate since 1965, said Cox was well respected by colleagues. Cox was known for his "detailed analysis of any problem or situation and the fairness" he showed in arriving at a conclusion, she said.
Miller, a semiretired associate coordinator of the UH's Environmental Center, which Cox started, said he was "incredibly fair, objective and nonjudgmental ... a highly remarkable individual."
COURTESY PHOTO
Doak Cox set up centers at the University of Hawaii to research water issues, tsunamis and the environment.
Born in 1917 in Wailuku, Maui, Cox spent most of his childhood on Kauai. He graduated from Punahou School in 1934 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from UH. He left Harvard University in 1941 -- one thesis short of a Ph.D. in geology -- to join the U.S. Geological Survey from 1941 to 1945. Many years later, Harvard awarded him the long-delayed Ph.D. by accepting many of his published papers as a thesis.
At the end of World War II, he returned to Hawaii as a geophysicist at the Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, from 1946 to 1960. Soon after, he joined UH as a professor of geology, where he remained until 1985.
While at UH he founded the Tsunami Research Program at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics (1960 to 1964), the Water Resource Research Center (1964 to 1970) and the Environmental Center (1970 to 1985).
Among his many honors, Cox was the emeritus geophysicist, senior fellow of the Joint Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research and the graduate faculty of geology and geophysics from 1985 till his death.
He served as the tsunami adviser for the Hawaii Civil Defense Division and served on numerous state task forces. In 1995 he received the Governor's Award for Distinguished State Service and a Governor's Commendation.
Cox was the only person to serve twice as president of the Hawaii Academy of Science, in 1958 and 1984. He was made an honorary life member of the academy, receiving its first lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.
Jim Moncur, director of the UH Water Resources Center, said Cox's death was "a real blow to us all." Moncur described him as "a great stimulator to discussion, a great champion of the environment in Hawaii ... a big force in water resources" and an admirable role model.
His wife of 62 years, Marjorie, said her husband was "an active Quaker, a friend." She said those who knew him will remember him as "someone who ... was very open-minded, and he got very intense because things meant a great deal to him."
"He believed in people being fair, the equality of races; he was very opposed to war," Marjorie Cox added.
She noted that he left his body to the UH School of Medicine "to help people learn; he was a great believer in education of all sorts."
Of all of his accomplishments, Cox said, "he was proudest that he had married me and had five children."
Besides his wife, Cox is survived by son Charles Cox, of Anchorage, Alaska; daughters Catharine Langmuir, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Nancy Stockert, of Honolulu, Marion Cox, of Oak Park, Ill., and Helen Cox, of Salt Lake City; 13 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 4:30 p.m. June 9 at the Honolulu Friends Meetinghouse, 2426 Oahu Ave. The family requests no flowers. Donations may be made to the Honolulu Friends Meeting.
