Jack Carl Cox

Jack Cox, 82, engineer and surveyor
December 4, 1932 – June 14, 2015

Jack Carl Cox, passed away quietly on Sunday, June 14, 2015 at the age of 82.

Jack was born in Tulsa, OK, the son of the late Neal Ned Cox and Artie Bell (Nail) Cox. 

Jack was known for his friendly exuberant personality and would often delight and surprise people with gifts, jokes, laughter or great ideas. He had a philosophy of “leaving things better than you found them,” which shaped his approach to both engineering and living, something he saw as the same thing. In his mind, everyone was an engineer, or could be, planning and calculating to solve problems and make things better. He exemplified this throughout his life, approaching every difficulty or idea as a project to engineer. 

As a land surveyor and professional civil engineer, Jack helped survey and develop many commercial and residential subdivisions in the Tulsa area. He started as a surveyor in the Army, serving in the Korean War in 1953 and later joined his older brother, Kenneth Cox , an architect who founded K. N. Cox & Associates, Inc. – Engineers and Surveyors in 1961. Jack took over operations of the business at Kenneth’s passing and for the next several decades worked with many land owners, development firms, architects, construction companies, government officials and engineers on many Tulsa area land surveys, developments and improvement projects until his retirement in 2009. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers: Kenneth Cox, Forest Cox, and Robert Cox; three sisters: Pat Stanton, Dorothy Kopp and Pauline Lloyd; and one stepson Kirk Baker.

He is survived by his wife Shirley June Cox of Tulsa, OK; one sister Barbara Cooley and her husband Ralph Cooley of Oklahoma City, OK; two sons: Carl Cox of Arkansas and Jason Cox and his wife Jane Cox of Valencia, CA; one daughter Shannon Chapman and her husband Walter Chapman of Sand Springs, OK; one step-daughter, Bliss Lowe and her husband Craig Lowe of Tulsa, OK; six grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and friends.