PETER W. COX

GEORGETOWN – Peter W. Cox, a co-founder of Maine Times, died Nov. 18, 2004, of esophageal cancer, at his home in Georgetown. He was 67. Cox and his partner, John N. Cole founded the statewide weekly on Oct. 4, 1968. Cox served as publisher then editor and publisher through 1985 when he sold the paper. He stayed on for a year and returned as editor in 1993-94 continuing his column until 2000. “We had two basic reasons for starting Maine Times,” Cox had written. “We wanted to cover issues rather than events and we believed in the community of Maine.” Maine Times did not report on fires or accidents but on mistreatment of patients at the Pineland Center for the retarded and on efforts to build oil refineries on the coast of Maine. In its early years especially, the alternative weekly wrote about issues the traditional press had long neglected. Later, many of these issues were picked up by other news outlets. Maine Times developed a national reputation, especially for its environmental coverage. After he left Maine Times, Cox devoted his energies to the same sorts of public policy affecting the future of Maine through nonprofit organizations. He was especially proud of his work with Erick Jensen at Wolfe’s Neck Farm in developing Wolfe’s Neck Natural Beef, which made it more profitable for beef farmers and therefore enabled them to stay on the land and even expand their herds. Based on this experience, he worked on promoting market based environmentalism, by which non-profits would sponsor businesses that served as models for others in showing that products developed in an environmentally sound manner could bring a premium price, giving an economic incentive to responsible environmentalism and allowing Maine’s traditional resource-based industries to survive. Cox saw the revitalization of agriculture as the primary way to protect farmland and curtail sprawl. His role in founding the Maine Downtown Center and SmartGrowth Maine were also indicative of this interest. His own educational experience led him to found the Maine Public Policy Scholars at the University of Maine. The original concept was to have students working as teams in developing solutions to Maine public policy problems with the help of an informed but non-academic mentor. Many of the people Cox had met because of his journalism career volunteered as mentors. The program continues through the Maine Community Foundation. Cox was born Aug. 13, 1937 in New York City, the child of Louise B. Cox of Bryson City, North Carolina, and Oscar S. Cox of Portland. The family lived Washington, D.C. where his father was a member of the Roosevelt and Truman Administrations and drafted the Lend-Lease Act. His father was also instrumental in the formation of the War Refugee Board. Cox was graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1955 and Yale in 1959. He spent summers in Kennebunkport, where in 1957 and 1958, he worked for Alexander “Sandy” Brook and John Cole at what was then the Kennebunk Star and became the York County Coast Star. In 1960, he worked as a campaign assistant to Frank M. Coffin, the Democratic candidate for governor and then freelanced briefly for the Biddeford Journal. In February, 1961, at the age of 23, he was hired as editor of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in Saranac Lake, N.Y., where he met his wife, Eunice Theodore of Lake Placid. With her, he returned to Maine in 1965 as editor of the Bath Daily Times, then in 1967 became the managing editor of the merged Times and Brunswick Record, the Times Record edited by John Cole. In 1968, he and Cole founded Maine Times. In 1976, the University of Missouri awarded the paper an honor award for Distinguished Service in Journalism. In 1980, the Natural Resources Council of Maine president Jon Lund, in giving Cox its conservation award, described him as: “Tireless critic of State Government, industry and the environmental movement, incurable optimist with the unshakable conviction that he can be the catalyst in making his beloved State of Maine a better place to live . . .” He served on the board of the Maine Civil Liberties Union and as its president; on the boards of American Civil Liberties Union, Maine Audubon, Portland Museum of Art, and Salt; and as an advisor from Maine to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As co-chair of the Eco/Eco Civic Forum, he was instrumental in starting the Maine Downtown Center, where he served as co-chair of the advisory board. He was on the founding board of the anti-sprawl group, GrowSmart Maine. He was long-time board president of the Wolfe’s Neck Farm. At the time of his death, he was also on the Maine board of the Conservation Law Foundation and Manomet. He was also a member of the Georgetown Zoning Board of Appeals. The family lived in Topsham and then moved to Indian Point, in Georgetown, in 1985. He loved writing about and discussing public policy. His article on property tax reform was published in the Maine Sunday Telegram October 3. His memoir, Journalism Matters, will be published in December by Tilbury House. He was an avid gardener, skier, tennis player, cook, and loved art and design. He shared his interests with his children. His daughter Sara is a potter who formerly owned Delilah Pottery and now works in social services. His son, Tony, a former ski instructor at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, now with his wife owns Casco Bay Frames, a picture frame shop in Portland, and have renovated several historic houses. Cox is survived by his brother, Warren J. of Washington, D.C.; by his wife, Eunice, and by his children, Sara Winston of Bowdoinham and Anthony Oscar and his wife, Heather, and their children Anna and Olivia of Bowdoinham. There will be no funeral. Memorial contributions may be made to Maine Public Policy Scholars, care of Maine Community Foundation, 245 Main St., Ellsworth, ME 04605. Condolences may be expressed at www.kincerfuneralhome.com Arrangements are under the care of Kincer Funeral Home, 130 Pleasant St., Richmond, ME 04357.