Earl Glen Cox

Earl Glen Cox, Sr., 80, formerly of Columbus, Ohio, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family on Wednesday, October 6. He attended St. Dominic’s Elementary School and graduated from Rosary High School in 1958. With an enthusiasm for sports, Earl ran track and played both football and basketball, receiving letters and awards in both. Later, Earl completed a degree in history at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, North Carolina, and was initiated into Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Alpha Nu Chapter, in 1964. While at NC A&T, he met his wife of 53 years, Joan Barbara Turner, and they married in 1968. From this union two children were born, Rhondalyn Rene and Jonathan Turner. Earl furthered his education by pursuing a law degree from Howard University School of Law, graduating in 1970. He started his career at the Interstate Commerce Commission in Washington, D.C., where he reviewed applications for operating rights in connection with rail and trucking systems. He moved back to Ohio in 1971 to serve as an Assistant Attorney General for the state. Two years later, he took a position as a trial attorney for the City of Columbus, first serving as assistant prosecutor and later as senior trial attorney for civil litigation. He tried many cases and argued in the appellate courts, including the Ohio Supreme Court. For a brief period, Earl was in private practice with several other attorneys, handling civil, criminal, and real estate matters. He was ultimately called back to public service at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he spent the majority of his career. Earl’s passion became diligently working to keep families together and to provide affordable, clean, and safe housing for the less fortunate, underprivileged, disabled, and forgotten. His positions at HUD included Attorney Advisor, Columbus; Chief Attorney, Cincinnati; and Chief Counsel in Cleveland, Jacksonville, and Baltimore. During this time, he served as counsel for the Troubled Agency Recovery Center, a new division within HUD that had jurisdiction of all troubled public housing authorities in the northern part of the country. He also spent a year as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service, where he was responsible for a large caseload of asylum and status adjustment matters and appeals. During his career, Earl gained extensive knowledge of regulations and procedures associated with legal document preparation and reviewed numerous turnkey and conventional development projects. He was integrally involved in more than 400 initial and final loan closings of multifamily development projects that provided thousands of families with housing options. His areas of expertise included contract negotiation, real estate law, public housing programs, business law, litigation, immigration law, and federal legal matters. He called his work for the government, especially helping the less fortunate, “time well spent.” With a passion for the law and education, Earl spent 10 years as an Adjunct Professor, teaching Business Law at the University of Cincinnati. During his career of almost 40 years, Earl received numerous accolades for his efforts and accomplishments. The Baltimore office is where he retired from federal service in 2012 and moved to Odenton, Maryland. In retirement, Earl volunteered his time working on arbitration cases involving housing for the City of Rockville, Maryland—staying true to his retirement words, “I will continue to be engaged in attempting to assist those who are less fortunate.” Beyond his professional life, Earl enjoyed his time with family and friends and was an avid reader and movie watcher. He had a special affinity for theoretical physics, with a few of his favorite authors being Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, and Michio Kaku. He would often equate normal life events like football or politics to particle physics or one-dimensional objects called strings. Earl was a lover of all of the Star Wars movies; one of the first big memories his son and daughter had was standing in line for hours to watch Star Wars when it debuted. Earl also enjoyed classic gangster films like The Godfather and especially old cowboy films. From High Noon to Rio Bravo to the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, he could tell you anything about these movies and seemed to know every actor in every cowboy movie ever made. Earl played sports his whole life, and next to home the gym was his favorite place to spend time. He played basketball and often spent Friday nights in heated games with neighbors and colleagues. Earl loved to swim and swam almost daily until he was 78 years old. One of his favorite Saturday activities when he was older was watching his 5-year-old granddaughter Isabel learning to swim. As a native Ohioan, he enjoyed watching The Ohio State Buckeyes as well as his beloved Cleveland Browns. Earl’s vice was cars; he got the Mercedes bug sometime in the ‘90s and drove several versions throughout his life. Earl would travel around to different dealers talking to all of them, smiling, negotiating, trying to get the best deal. He always got the worst deal. The car would have way more features than he knew how to use, but he would smile and say, “But it’s a Benz.” Earl loved his children and wanted to ensure that they would exceed his own accomplishments and enjoy unlimited possibilities. When his children were younger, he regularly volunteered at church-sponsored bingo games, and they attended many school and church social activities. He often took his children to work to shadow him and help out with small assignments. Earl acquired many nicknames over the span of his 80 years. In college his friends called him “Duke”. His daughter started calling him “Big E” while she was in college and then she began calling him “Poppie.” The name “Poppie” was how his grandchildren affectionately referred to him. He is preceded in death by his parents, Willa Mae Burris and John Marian Cox, Sr., and his sister, Betty Dixon. Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Barbara Turner Cox; his children Earl G. Cox, Jr. (Lynnette), a son from a previous union, Rhondalyn R. Cox-Burt (Christopher), and Jonathan T. Cox (Ann-Sofie); grandchildren Alexis, Isabel, and Dylan; his siblings John M. Cox, Jr. (Barbara), Mary Alice Robison, and David L. Cox (Barbara); as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, former coworkers, and fraternity brothers. On October 22, a funeral service will be held at 12 noon at Christ the King Catholic Church, 2777 E. Livingston Avenue, Columbus, OH 43209. A visitation prior to the service will occur from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Diehl-Whittaker Funeral Service, 720 E. Long Street, Columbus, OH 43203, (614) 258-9549. Visit https://www.diehl-whittaker.com/ for more information.