Editor's note: This scholarship announcement recognizes the anniversary of Cox's death, Dec. 8, 1999. Subscribe now to receive KU News by email

Contact: John Scarffe, KU Endowment Association, (785) 832-7336.

Scholarship memorializes Kansas legislator

LAWRENCE -- The memory of a former state senator from Kingman has been preserved through a $10,000 scholarship fund established by his family, KU School of Business Dean William L. Fuerst announced today.

Lawrence resident Virginia Jean Cox Mitchell and her husband, William Mitchell, gave $10,000 to the Kansas University Endowment Association to establish the Marvin M. Cox Memorial Scholarship. Named in memory of Jean Mitchell's brother, the scholarship will be awarded to qualified KU undergraduates from Kingman County, with a preference for pre-business or business students.

"This scholarship will help preserve the memory of Marvin Cox's record of service to Kansas and his community, while providing Kingman County students with tuition assistance," Fuerst said. "We are grateful to the Mitchells for honoring Marvin Cox with this gift."

Cox earned a bachelor's degree from KU in 1939. He was a member of Acacia Fraternity, an officer on the Interfraternity Council and a member of Sachems, a KU honorary society.

He represented Kingman as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives from 1947 to 1956, and as state senator from 1965 to 1968. The World War II U.S. Army veteran was an insurance and real estate broker, a farmer and a former Kingman County commissioner. Among many other organizations he participated in, Cox was chairman of the Kingman chapter of the VFW and of the Kingman County Republican Committee, a trustee of the Kingman United Methodist Church and a member of the Kingman Community Hospital Board.

Cox married Willa J. Huddleston in 1951. He died after being struck by a car in Kingman in December 1999. Both of their sons, James A. Cox and Marvin M. Cox Jr., graduated from KU.

Jean Mitchell is also a KU graduate. She earned a bachelor's degree in design in 1953, and was a member of Delta Gamma sorority. William Mitchell earned a bachelor's degree in English at KU in 1959. As a KU student he was a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity. He is retired from the University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library.

The Mitchells have provided support for several other areas at KU. They are lifetime members of the Kansas Alumni Association and are members of the Elizabeth Watkins Society, which honors donors of planned gifts.