Arthur James Fox was a member of the Class of June 1939, but you may better remember him as “Jim Fox,” the name he used while writing thousands of newspaper articles, many called “Fox Tales,” over the course of his 65-year career. Mr. Fox then attended Washington University, graduating in 1943 with a journalism degree. Jim moved to Bloomington, IL, where he wrote for their local newspaper, The Pantagraph, for two years. It was there he met and married Martha “Marty” Bender.

Jim moved back to St. Louis in 1945, writing for the Star-Times. He joined the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Post) in 1951 after the Star-Times ceased operations. Mr. Fox served in nearly every vital newsroom position for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch over the next 33 years, working as a copy editor, reporter, telegraph editor, city editor, and feature writer. He was the Reader’s Advocate for five years. In that role, Mr. Fox served as an independent liaison investigating reader complaints, ranging from unfairness, bias, to inaccuracies in news articles.

Mr. Fox was known for his easygoing style. He could turn ordinary events into genuine, fascinating reads. He always referred to Marty as “Friend Wife” and the family dog, Hobo, was a regular. Mr. Fox explained, in his final 1993 column with the Post, that he wrote about ordinary things because, “My thinking was that newspapers are filled with fire and brimstone, gloom and doom, … and that a change of pace might be acceptable.” He succeeded, writing a conservative estimate of over 2,500 articles over his 65-year career.

He wrote for the south editions of the Suburban Journals for 15 years after retiring from the Post. He continued to write even after a stroke impaired his ability to type. He dictated his stories to this wife, then to his daughter-in-law, Cindy, after Marty passed away in 2012.

Mr. Fox taught journalism in his later years at Webster and Washington Universities. Fellow Webster teacher, Ed Bishop, former editor of the St. Louis Journalism Review, said “Jim was a treasure trove of stories about the golden age of newspaper journalism,” and served as a mentor to his students, teaching them to be better writers. One Washington University student, Deborah Cohen Kosofsky, stands out. She was inspired to pursue a career in television after taking a class by Mr. Fox. He became a mentor and friend. He arranged an internship for her at the Post. From there, Ms. Kosofsky went on to work for ABC’s Good Morning America in New York. She has been Executive Producer of NBC’s Today Show since 2003.

Mr. Fox was inducted into the St. Louis Media History Foundation’s Print Hall of Fame in 2013. Their summary says, “…the folksiness of his columns endeared Jim Fox to his legions of readers.”

Mr. Fox was a lifetime member of the Boys Scouts of America and an Eagle Scout. He served on the Bayless School District’s Board of Education for seven years during the 1960’s, including two years as it’s President. He volunteered to read to children in the Affton schools.

As can be seen by Mr. Fox’s lengthy writing career, informing and entertaining thousands of his readers, he demonstrates what a true Rough Rider represents and is a credit to the Roosevelt High School community.