Edward F. Cox

Ed Cox
Cox and his wife, Tricia Nixon (1972)
Chair of the New York Republican Party
Assumed office
September 30, 2009
Preceded by Joseph Mondello
Personal details
Born Edward Ridley Finch Cox
(1946-10-02) October 2, 1946
Southampton, New York, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s)
Tricia Nixon (m. 1971)
Children Christopher
Education Princeton University (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

Edward Ridley Finch Cox (born October 2, 1946) is an American politician who is currently the chairman of the New York Republican State Committee. He is the son-in-law of President Richard M. Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon. Cox is a lawyer in the Manhattan law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.

Early life

Cox was born to Howard Ellis Cox and Anne Crane Delafield (Finch) Cox in Southampton Hospital in Southampton, New York and attended Westhampton Beach Elementary School and Allen Stevenson School in New York City.[1] He is the scion of six old American families: the Winthrops, the Finches, the Coxes, the Livingstons, the Schuylers, and the Delafields. Cox is named for his grandfather, Judge Edward R. Finch, a prominent New York jurist who served as a State Court Judge (1915–43), Presiding Justice of the State's First Department; Associate Judge on the New York Court of Appeals.[2] His father, Howard Ellis Cox, was a decorated World War II aviator, New York lawyer, and Long Island real estate developer.

Cox graduated from the Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (1968) and Harvard Law School (1972). Cox was battalion commander of his Army ROTC unit at Princeton,[3] and subsequently served as a reserve officer with the 11th Special Forces Group.[4]

Professional history

After graduating from Princeton, Cox worked with the consumer advocate Ralph Nader as a founding member of "Nader's Raiders".

Cox was admitted to the New York State bar in 1973. In 1974 he was admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Upon graduating from law school, Cox campaigned extensively for the reelection of his father-in-law, President Nixon. After the election, he and his wife Tricia Nixon Cox traveled to Europe and the Soviet Union, meeting privately with leaders and their families.

From 1981 to 1983, Cox served in the Reagan Administration as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of a government corporation, The United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation. In 1983, Cox returned to the practice of law in New York. Cox has served on the Commission on Judicial Nomination (nominating candidates for New York's highest court, 1991 to 2009), as Chairman of the New York Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (1995 to 2008), as Chairman of the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (1995 to present), as a Trustee of the State University of New York (SUNY)(1995 to present) and as a director of the New York Institute for Special Education (1994 to present).

At Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, LLP, Cox handles corporate and finance law with experience in general representation of public and private entities, including financings, acquisitions, and joint ventures, both domestic and international. He was previously a partner at the now-defunct, old-line New York law firm of Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine. In 1997, Cox and his former law firm were sued, along with their client, by the purchaser in a foreclosure action Florida Power & Light of a failed power plant venture in South Carolina. He is the author of "Reinvigorating the FTC: The Nader Report and the Rise of Consumer Advocacy," 72 Antitrust Law Journal 899 (2005) and has lectured on the legal aspects of cogeneration financing and of the sale of venture companies.

In 2007 and 2008, Cox chaired John McCain's presidential campaign efforts within the State of New York.

Political career

2006

Cox was initially rumored to be considering a run for New York Governor George Pataki's seat in 2006 should Pataki not seek re-election. Pataki did not run again, but Cox later chose instead to seek the seat held by incumbent U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D) in the 2006 New York U.S. Senate election. Initial reports indicated Cox would run as a fiscal conservative and an environmentalist. However, after Governor Pataki endorsed rival Republican, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, Cox announced on October 14 that he was no longer running.[5]

New York Republican Party Chairman (2009-present)

Cox was elected chairman of the New York State Republican Committee at the Committee's meeting on September 30, 2009.[6] Cox had a seven-point "agenda for the future" when elected chairman:

  1. to be "a full-time chairman";
  2. to win election victories in the 2009 local elections;
  3. to re-build the state party's staff;
  4. to "re-establish credibility" of the state party nationally;
  5. to raise money;
  6. to recruit a "slate of candidates up and down the ballot"; and
  7. to win statewide elections in 2010.[7]

Personal life

In 1971, Cox married Tricia Nixon Cox, daughter of then-President Nixon, in a White House Rose Garden ceremony. The wedding was described in Life Magazine as "akin to American royalty." Tricia and Edward have a son, Christopher N. Cox. They currently reside on Long Island, New York.

References

  1. ↑ Easthamptonstar.com: Chris Cox, Politics, Family, Legacy
  2. ↑ The New York Times, April 16, 1965
  3. ↑ "The Groom: Ed's suitable consort". Boca Raton News. 11 June 1971. p. 7.
  4. ↑ "Member Profile: Mr. Edward F. Cox". Republican National Lawyers Association.
  5. ↑ Hernandez, Raymond; Cooper, Michael (October 15, 2005). "Pirro's Path to Republican Nomination Is Clearer". New York Times. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved December 19, 2008.
  6. ↑ Hakim, Danny (September 29, 2009). "For Nixon In-Law, G.O.P. Post and a Giuliani Clash". New York Times. Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2009.
  7. ↑ Freedlander, David (April 14, 2010). "Ed Cox and the Republican Restoration". Capitol News. p. 17. Archived from the original on October 6, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Joseph Mondello		 Chair of the New York Republican Party
2009–present		 Incumbent
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