FOX, MARVIN

FOX, MARVIN (1922–1996), American Jewish educator. Born in Chicago, Fox received his B.A. in philosophy from Northwestern University in 1942, and his M.A. in the same field in 1946, obtained his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1950, and completed his rabbinic studies at the Hebrew Theological College in that city. He served as a Jewish chaplain in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II (1942–46). He taught at Ohio State University from 1948 through 1974, rising from instructor to professor of philosophy. He was appointed acting chairman of the department of philosophy from 1963 to 1964. He was a visiting professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University and Bar-Ilan University (1970–71). In 1974 he was appointed director of the Lown School of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, chairman of the department, and in 1976 became the Philip W. Lown Professor of Jewish Philosophy. He was a founder and member of the executive committee of the Institute for Judaism and Contemporary Thought in Israel, a member of the Academic Board of the Melton Research Center of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a member of the board of directors of the Library of Living Philosophers. For many years Fox was active in the Hebrew Day School movement in the United States under the aegis of Torah Umesorah. He received numerous academic awards, lectured widely at universities and at national and international academic conferences, and served as member of the National Endowment for the Humanities National Board of Consultants for new programs at colleges and universities. A prolific writer, he was a consulting editor of the Journal of the History of Philosophy and was the author of more than 100 articles, which have appeared in scholarly journals, as well as in such general publications as Commentary, Tradition, and Judaism. Among Fox's important works are Kant's Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals (1975), Modern Jewish Ethics and Practice (1975), From Ancient Israel to Modern Judaism: Intellect in Quest of Understanding, Volume I (1989), Interpreting Maimonides: Studies in Methodology, Metaphysics, and Moral Philosophy (1994), Collected Essays on Philosophy and on Judaism, Volume One: Greek Philosophy, Maimonides (ed. J. Neusner, published in 2003), Collected Essays on Philosophy and on Judaism, Volume Two: Some Philosophers (2003), and Collected Essays on Philosophy and on Judaism, Volume Three: Ethics, Reflections (2003). In 1996, Dr. June Fox donated her late husband's book collections to the library of the University of Chicago. The Marvin Fox Memorial Book Collection of Philosophy and Judaica is an invaluable resource on Judaism, secularism, and textual interpretation. (Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)