Lehigh University:

Jack Fox '54

Jack Fox did not have the typical four-year experience that most students have when starting Lehigh. As an undergraduate, Fox began his studies in industrial engineering in the fall of 1950, but his time was interrupted when he entered military service during the Korean War, and was stationed at White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico. During that time, Fox married his wife Beverly, and they had their first child. He returned to Lehigh in 1956 on the G.I. Bill and completed his bachelor’s degree in 1957.

"I always remember the professors at Lehigh, because they left you thinking about the greater good, and they taught us to think outside the box,” recalls Fox. “That made an impression on me.” After graduation, Fox spent a few years in the corporate world before purchasing a small business that manufactured bakery products. In a decade, he went from eight employees to 400. “All that was possible from the discipline I learned at Lehigh,” says Fox. “Lehigh teaches leadership.”

Providing scholarship assistance to deserving students is especially important to the Foxes. They are both participants in Lehigh’s life income program, which will provide annuity income for all three of their children when they turn 55 years of age. The couple also each has a charitable gift annuity. “It’s a useful tool for oneself, but also for giving to others – it’s the gift that keeps giving,” he says.

This year, Fox will celebrate his 50th year of having a private pilot license. Both he and his wife have enjoyed flying coast-to-coast within Australia and the snow-covered mountains of Alaska, and everywhere in between. “Life has been good to us, and, in no small measure, Lehigh deserves credit for helping to make our lives comfortable in these later years.”