David Ronald Cox

David Ronald Cox of Washington, DC, who was 86 when he died October 20, 2023, will be remembered for his bold intellect, leadership and principled life of public service.

Cox published a pro-integration newspaper while attending the University of Mississippi on a Navy ROTC scholarship years before “Ole Miss” admitted its first black student, using a printing press the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission tried but failed to find and confiscate.

Upon graduation in 1958, Cox married his college sweetheart, Nancy Elizabeth “Liz” Montroy, as he embarked on a career as a Navy surface warfare officer that led to action in Vietnam, command of a frigate, coordination of North Atlantic Treaty Organization operations and promotion to the rank of captain.

Cox studied Russian at the US Army Language School in Monterey, California, where he graduated in 1962, and earned a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1969.

Early in his career, he was commended for rescuing crew members who had abandoned a French merchant vessel broached on a shoal in the South China Sea. Later in his career, he earned a Defense Superior Service Medal for his work supporting the NATO alliance.

After retiring from the Navy in 1983, Cox worked for defense and USAID contractors, most notably in Ukraine, where he applied his politico-military acumen and Russian language skills to help strengthen the fledgling democracy.

Congenial, unruffled and deeply knowledgeable on all manner of important issues, Cox was an avid photographer, sailor, do-it-yourselfer and wide-ranging conversationalist.

Later in life, David and Liz travelled far and wide on their sailboat, the Hirondelle, eventually settling in the town of Oriental, a sailors’ haven on the Pamlico Sound in North Carolina. They became deeply involved in the vibrant community there, assuming roles in town governance and state Democratic Party affairs before eventually returning to Washington.

Cox, who was born April 20, 1937, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was preceded in death by his mother, Ione Cox, his father, Joyce Cox Jr., his biological father, Durward Brame, sister Sharon Seckler, and brother John Cox.

He is survived by his wife, Liz, of Upper Marlboro, MD, his sons Bowman (Nedra Darling) of Alexandria, VA, and Fred and Benjamin of Washington, DC, grandsons Hunter (Sami Hall) of Washington, DC, and Forrest (Kelcie Jimenez) of Portland, OR, and Detroit, MI, great-granddaughter Emiko Cox-Hall of Washington, DC, sister Betty Joyce Dubose, sister-in-law Jackie Cox, half-sisters Dulcie Miller and Nancy Estepp (Jim), and many nieces and nephews and their families.

Services will be held April 24 at Arlington National Cemetery.