Arts & Humanities Lecture Series 2009-2010
Featuring Distinguished Alumnus
Sidney B. Cox
Sidney B. Cox was born in Marshall, OK, the oldest of four children of a farming family. Like the Joads in the ‘Grapes of Wrath’, the Cox family left Oklahoma in 1937 during the dust bowl and settled in Fresno near Kearney Park.
Sid graduated from Clovis High then went to Reedley College. He transferred to Fresno State and majored in journalism.
A banner year for Sid was 1952 when he graduated from Fresno State, married Norma Jane Foster of Mendota and began a two year stint in the Army Signal Corps during the Korean War. Sid also began working as a reporter for KMJ Radio and TV, and later for the Fresno Bee. In the late 1960s he became Vice President of Producers Cotton Oil, and in 1988 Sid started his own company, Cox Communications, a public relations consultancy. Sid has been active in many civic and educational organizations. Most recently he served as general chairman for two multi-million dollar building campaigns benefitting Children’s Hospital Central California and Break the Barriers. He has chaired the boards of both organizations. Among other leadership roles, Sid is past president of the Rotary Club of Fresno, a charter board member of Central Valley Community Bank and the chairman of the President’s Advisory Council at Fresno State.
Sid has received many honors including the Fresno Chamber of Commerce Leon S. Peters Award, the Sequoia Council Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver Award and the Most Outstanding Contributor Award from the Fresno State School of Ag Sciences and Technology. “I am proud of Fresno State’s ranking as one of the leading universities in California,” says Sid. “I’m especially proud of its emphasis on agriculture, with accompanying outreach through AgOne scholarships.” Sid, Norma and sons Kevin and Randall have all attended Fresno State and grandson Conner is a senior this year.