Marilyn Rae Fox

Marilyn Fox, who over a period of decades led, served or contributed to countless St. Louis organizations involved with children, culture, education and social services, died peacefully here Sunday at age 89 of natural causes, surrounded by her loved ones.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday (Feb. 20) at 11 a.m. at Temple Israel Ladue and Spoede Roads. The burial will be private.

Beginning in the 1980s and continuing for more than 30 years, Marilyn was a fixture atop more than a dozen St. Louis area organizations, from the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Missouri History Museum to the Old Newsboys Day Campaign for Kids to the United Way of Greater St. Louis. The organizations with which she was most closely identified over the years, however, were St. Louis Variety, the Children’s Charity; Webster University; and the Jewish Community Center.

At St. Louis Variety, she chaired the annual fundraising gala for more than two decades, raising millions of dollars on behalf of children with disabilities. At Webster she served for years on the board of trustees until stepping down about a decade ago. At the Jewish Community Center (the “J”), she was elected in 1992 as the first female president, and later also chaired a successful $18 million capital campaign for a satellite facility in Chesterfield. The Marilyn Fox Building, a fitness and education center, opened in 1997.

Wherever she devoted herself, she inspired respect and affection. Barry Rosenberg, the former chief executive of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, described her leadership as “sound, humble, and moral. She’d ask a lot of good questions, and she could stand her ground. At the same time, she was extraordinarily gracious and inclusive.”

Peter Raven, president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, said, “Marilyn quietly made things happen. She was effective. She was also just a pleasure to work with.”

Born Marilyn Widman in St. Louis, she was one of three children of the late Arden Widman and Celia Bass, both Lithuanian immigrants. She grew up in the Delmar Loop, which she recalled fondly as a lively, friendly neighborhood where she made childhood friendships that lasted a lifetime.

During her senior year at University City High School, she met a recent Washington University graduate, Sam Fox, at a party. At age 19, after just one semester of her own at Washington University, she married him, and left the university so she could get a job and begin supporting the family they hoped to have.

About 15 years later, however, with her five children established and her husband’s business, Harbour Group, thriving, she found her way to community work, and never looked back.

She had never thought of herself as a leader, but the more she got involved with community activities, and the more strongly she felt about them, the more capable she felt about putting herself forward.

Among the other organizations she served over the years were the Girl Scouts, where she served as a member of the executive committee and as vice president of the board; Jewish Federation of St. Louis; Jewish Family & Children’s Services; Central Agency for Jewish Education; the National Council of Community and Justice; and Women of Achievement, where she was board chair for two terms from 2003 to 2005.

Her service brought her numerous awards and honors. She was a Woman of Achievement in 1993 and the Variety Club’s Woman of the Year in 1996. She received the Brotherhood Sisterhood Award from the National Conference of Community and Justice in 1998 and the Magen Ami “Star of My People” award from the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis in 2001. The Old Newsboys gave her their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. In 2009 she received the Thomas Jefferson Award from the Missouri History Museum; in 2012, the Visionary Award from Webster University; and in 2013 an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Washington University. Along with her husband she received an honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Saint Louis University in 2000 and the university’s Sword of Ignatius Loyola Award in 2009; the Excellence in Philanthropy Award in 2004 from the Arts and Education Council, and the Whitney and Jane Harris Community Service Award, also in 2004, from Washington University.

None of it went to her head. She remained the same unassuming, gentle, down to earth person she had always been, and kept her focus – despite all her community service – on her husband, her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren.

“I hope the theme of my life,” she said in an interview several years ago, “was living in happiness and teaching that to my kids. I hope it was being part of the community and trying to help people and be kind to other people. I hope that’s what it was.”

Surviving are her husband, Sam Fox; daughters Cheri Fox and Pamela Fox-Claman (Aba) of Israel; daughter-in-law Merle Fox (the late Greg), of St. Louis; sons Jeff (Lotta) and Steven (Nan), of St. Louis; 15 grandchildren; and 4 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a charity of your choice.