Robert Cox

Cox, Robert P. MADISON Robert P. Cox, age 83, died on Feb. 21, 2008, at St. Marys Hospital in Madison after a determined five and a half year battle with multiple serious medical conditions, any of which could have easily killed him at any time. Bob was born Feb. 16, 1925, in Detroit, Mich. to Conrad and Harriet (Roberts) Cox. He married Ellen Frank on Dec. 21, 1960, the winter solstice, which they laughingly identified as "the longest night of the year." In 1944, Bob flew with the Eighth Air Force as navigator-bombardier in B-17s over Nazi Germany. After the war he obtained his B.S. in chemistry and M.S. in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working his way though school at Bjorksten Research Laboratories in Fitchburg. A few years after graduation, he served as Director of Research at Bjorkstens before leaving to pursue research projects of his own. In the mid-1960s Bob invented a magnetic developer for computer tape that is still in commercial use today, applied to tape, floppy disk or magnetic strips on plastic cards to visualize the magnetic patterns, or "writing." He invented Silly String in 1969, and with his partner, Leonard A. Fish, sold the product to Wham O Manufacturing Company. The product become very popular, but Bob was chagrined that, of all the complicated projects he was working on, one of his relatively simple (for him) - and silly - products had "taken off" beyond his more serious work. Bobs formulation of Silly String was removed from the market in the late 1970s because Silly Strings Freon propellant was deemed dangerous to the ozone layer. Over the years Bob taught at the downtown WMCA Judo Club, competed in many tournaments, studied with Japanese masters and obtained a First Degree Black Belt in Judo. He was a serious student of Tai Chi, a skilled folk dancer, and an enthusiastic rockhound, haunting the abandoned copper mine dumps in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the leavings of the defunct lead mines of southern Wisconsin, prowling and collecting rocks on Minnesotas North Shore of Lake Superior, the granite country near Wausau, and many spots in Colorado, New Mexica, Arizona, California, and Washington State. He was a wanderer who loved his freedom. Canoeing Lake Mendota and the Wisconsin River was one of his favorite things to do, as well as, with his beloved beagle, hiking deer trails on bluffs and in woods. Bob loved all kinds of music - classical, bluegrass, old country, jazz, Klezmer and real, not fancied-up folk music. He had perfect pitch and could whistle true. With an always-seeking mind, he read voraciously, was interested in many philosophies, respectful of many faiths: his favorite saying was, "To each his own." Bob leaves behind Ellen, his wife of 47 years; much loved daughter, Susan Trimm of Port Orchard, Wash.; much loved grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Charlie and Mariah (Holmes) Trimm, of Wheaton, Ill.; awesome imp of an 18-month-old great granddaughter, Eily Trimm; and soon to be born great-grandson, Kellen Trimm; highly respected and loved sister, Joan (Bill) Handel, of Fort Myers, Fla.; and very specially, former wife and always friend, Ruth White, Susans mother, of Bend, Ore. Special thanks must be given to the many medical professionals who through the last five and a half years expertly helpd Bob maintain his precarious physical health and praised and encouraged his great psychological and spiritual strength - Dean Clinic doctors Randall Haas, James VanderMeer, John Snider, John Wilson, and Michael Frontiera; very special Oncology nurse, Karen; the St. Marys nurses of Surgical Intensive Care, Intermediate Care, Outpatient Services and Medical Intensive Care; Home Health United /Visiting Nurse Service medical supplies personnel, Paulette and Barb, respiratory therapist, Tarrie; and last but certainly not least, RN Tom and aides, Ruth, Wendy and Amanda. Many thanks are also due for the kindness and attentive service of the pharmacists at Middleton Walgreens, Branch Street. All these people made it possible for Bob to live the best life he could under very difficult conditions. A memorial service to celebrate Bobs life will be held at GUNDERSON WEST FUNERAL HOME on Saturday, March 1, 2008, with visitation from 12:30 p.m. until start of the service at 1:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, a contribution may be made to Home Health United/Visiting Nurse Service or the Dane County Humane Society. Bob loved animals, especially dogs. To the guy Im glad I married: "A Point of Difference: I dream, but not very great dreams./ I am very much of the earth/ And my lover is of the sky/ A dream entire unto himself./ He will fly out into the universe and come back to kiss me,/ And I, the sweet smelling soil, the cool water, the green and the moving live things,/ Look out into him,/ Breathe him, but never for long/ Join him./ I am here, moving through time in specific physical ways,/ Valuing specific physical things,/ Believing only what I see and touch./ Not a thinker, not really a dreamer/ but a be-er who wants very much to be as she is,/ Who does not want to be asked to fly or to disperse in all directions/ Like the sky./ And yet this be-er I/ Find infinite value in what I cannot be,/ And do not want to see it go away./ I treasure it almost as much as I treasure me,/ For where is the earth without the sky?"