- Date Of Birth: July 22, 1932
- Date Of Death: November 25, 2021
- State: Massachusetts
James Edward Fox, 89, of Middleton, MA, died Thursday, November 25, 2021, at home, surrounded by his loving family.
Jim was born on July 22, 1932, in Cleveland, OH and was raised in Erie, PA by his parents James J and Marion (Goetz) Fox.
Jim married his childhood sweetheart, Ruth Ann Veihdeffer, on April 25, 1953. Long-time residents of Andover, MA, they had nine children together, with 18 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Over the course of their marriage, the only thing that came between them was a cribbage board. Even if they weren’t speaking, they would play cribbage.
After graduating from Penn St University, Jim began a long, successful career as a stockbroker, working for many prestigious brokerage firms in New York and Boston.
Jim’s favorite time of year was summer vacations on Cape Cod, where he was known to fire off an errant bottle rocket or two. He loved to hold court on the deck of the beach house in Truro, perched on a bluff above the beach below.
A lover of books, Jim could not pass a bookstore without loading up on tomes as eclectic as Sun Tzu’s the Art of War, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Gary Larson’s The Far Side, and How to Curse in 15 Languages.
A true eccentric, Jim was unabashed in how he expressed himself and in his pursuit of anything that sparked his curiosity: beekeeping, wine making, apple cider pressing, candle making. He loved history and maps and collecting things.
A man of great intellect (he was a member of MENSA), Jim enjoyed engaging in clever repartee with family and friends. He was known to wield a sharp needle, testing the mettle of those in his circle, but always tempered by his outsized heart and a generous spirit.
In addition to MENSA, Jim was a proud member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of MA and an auxiliary policeman in the town of Andover.
Jim was predeceased by sons John and Joe.
