I was Dr. Fox's colleague at Kansas State University and each day the accounting faculty would have lunch together. Dr. Fox always had a story to tell. The one I will never forget was when he was talking about his band experience in grade school. He said he was third trombone and when we complemented him about about it he said there were only three trombone players. He said they had an annual band concert and that the trombone players loved the part where they had to extend the trombone slide all the way to the end. For added flair they would flick the slide and catch it at the very end. At the concert all was going well but when the moment can to flick the slide Ken let the slide go but he failed to catch it and it went off the stage into the audience. We were laughing so hard imagining a grade school Dr. Fox and the loss of his slide. We then asked what happened to the slide he said he didn't bother to retrieve at the time. He said he just faked it the rest of the song.
At his retirement dinner, I told him that I had call the school and that they still had the slide (really bought and old one from the local music store) and presented it to him at the dinner. We all enjoyed reliving the story and he got a great laugh also.
Ken Fox was a kind and thoughtful man (in the top .01% of people I have every met). Never heard him say a bad word about anyone and treated students, faculty, and accounting professionals with the greatest respect. He was a wonderful husband and father. He and Beth were a perfect couple who lived their faith.
As a new faculty member at KSU Dr. Fox always encouraged me and was so supportive of my effort to obtain tenure and promotion. He will be missed but never forgotten by his students and his colleagues.
Dr. Dan Deines Ph.D. CPA
KPMG Professor of Accounting
Kansas State University
Posted by Dr. Dan Deines
