Robert (Bob) Fox passed away on June 5, 2024 at Mount Hope in London, Ontario. Throughout his life, Bob enthusiastically embraced a personal philosophy of “Be There!”.
Bob was raised in the Northern Ontario mining village of Swastika (yes, it does exist). He loved the north, being outdoors amidst the wildlife, trees, wind, rocks, and the secluded bays and lakes that surrounded his hometown. Over his life, he cherished the poetry of Robert Service, and the paintings of the Group of Seven and other artists who profiled Canada’s north.
As a youth, Bob excelled academically and athletically, specifically in football, hockey and baseball. Bob was a skilled outdoorsman, canoeing rapids, fishing, cooking over camp fires, felling trees and clearing brush with an axe, spending his summers as a teenager in canvas tents working in Northern Ontario and Quebec. The “life lessons” Bob shared with his children and grandchildren generally involved analogies to his time living and working in the “bush”, as he forever described it.
Bob studied physical education at the University of Western Ontario. In the era of “two way” football, Bob played offensive and defensive line on the Western Mustang football team. He was a member of teams that won Yates Cups, and the first national championship in Canada in 1959, now known as the Vanier Cup. The teams and players were inducted into the Western University Athletic Hall of Fame.
After university, Bob was heavily recruited to play for the Hamilton Tigercats and Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. However, he and his classmate and future wife, Lynn (nee Patterson), pursued long careers in education, both teaching and coaching primarily at Blenheim District High School. Bob completed a Master of Education degree at the University of Windsor as part of his progression through the educational ranks, ultimately retiring as the Interim Director of Education for the Lambton Kent District School Board.
He believed that he had a duty to help rural communities like Blenheim, not simply survive, but thrive through community-based public schools, organizations, and facilities that were accessible to community members of all ages. This value drove his creation of, participation in, and/or leadership of, charities, educational, athletic and creative initiatives, programs, construction projects, and political organizations throughout his life.
Bob passionately believed that kids needed the chance to pursue as many different academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular avenues as possible and that schools must provide these myriad pathways and low-cost opportunities. He recognized that each student had gifts, academically, athletically, artistically, and believed that teachers must pro-actively encourage all students to try to identify a passion, increasing self confidence, and finding their “success” in life. He bore a responsibility to positively contribute to communities, schools, and students. He simply refused to accept that Blenheim should receive crumbs while larger centres got the whole pie.
Throughout his life, Bob was a good friend, advisor, mentor, and a forceful, but private, advocate, and confidante to many.
Bob was the proud father and lifelong champion of his children and grandchildren. He enjoyed their various paths and successes, travelling for years over the course of weekends, to “Be There!” for their activities and events. Bob was a lover of the multitude of ill-behaved Fox family dogs, and barn cats. Privately, he often fed stray animals, and on many occasions, tried to nurse injured birds, squirrels, and turtles he came across.
Bob is survived by his sister Susan Stevenson (Bob), his children, Elizabeth (Scott Guidolin) and David, his grandchildren Thomas, Grace and Katie, sister-in-law Barbara Fox, nieces and nephews Catherine and Gwen Stevenson, Jason (Eileen) and Gavin (Jenifer) Fox, and families, and cousins Fred (Kathy) and Nancy Mallett. Predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Lynn, brother David, and cousin Joan (Al) McNabb. Lynn and Bob’s dear friend and confidante of many years, Noreen McLauchlin, suitably accompanied Bob back home to his beloved Blenheim on his final day. Bob will be missed by his long-time friends Denis, Jane, Jerry, Windy, Lyle, Doug, Ivan and Joe. Predeceased by close friends, Coop, Donny, Lach, and Paul. Elizabeth and David extend their deepest gratitude to Cathy Phipps and to Bob’s private caregivers Tammy Murphy-Lodewegen, Tilly DaSilva, and Tammie Matt-Barnes for their skilled and respectful care over the last years.
Cremation has taken place and a celebration of Bob’s life will be held on Saturday June 15, 2024 at Willow Ridge Golf Course in Blenheim between 1PM and 4PM (remarks at 2 PM). Those who can attend are encouraged to bring their favourite recollections of encounters with Bob. In lieu of flowers, those who are able are encouraged to donate to, either, the Western Fund, or the Chatham-Kent A.L.L. for Kids Program.
