Cox, Jerome R., Jr., Vertical File

Jerome R. Cox, Jr., was born on May 24, 1925, in Washington, D.C., to Jerome R. Cox, Sr., and Jane Mills Cox. The family moved frequently in his early years, with stints in Maryland and New York before they settled in South Bend, Indiana, in 1930.

Cox enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in May 1943. By the end of that summer, he had received a draft notice, and he left MIT to attend basic training at Camp Blanding in Florida. Cox served in the U.S. Army from 1943-1944, stationed first in northern Africa and then in Italy, where he developed an infection in his foot. While recovering in August 1944, he received orders to return to the United States to be discharged. Cox returned to MIT to continue his studies that fall, and he went on to complete his bachelor's (1947), master's (1949), and doctoral (1954) degrees in electrical engineering.

Cox joined the faculty of Washington University and Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) in 1955 after serving as a consultant in acoustics for Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc., and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. In 1964, he founded the Biomedical Computer Laboratory (BCL), a pioneer in the application of computers to biomedical research. That same year, he was instrumental in bringing the Laboratory Instrument Computer, known as the LINC, and its development team from MIT to Washington University.

At Washington University, Cox served as assistant professor of Electrical Engineering, 1955-1958; associate professor of Electrical Engineering, 1958-1961; professor of Electrical Engineering, 1961-1999; director, Biomedical Computer Laboratory, 1964-1975; professor of Biomedical Engineering in Physiology and Biophysics, 1966-1999; professor of Computer Science, 1975-1998; chairman, Department of Computer Science, 1975-1991; professor of Biomedicine, Institute for Biomedical Computing, 1983-1998; professor of Radiology, 1986-1998; director of Applied Research Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, 1991-1995; and senior professor of Computer Science, 1999-2005.