Larry Cox remembered for helping turn Memphis airport into an international hub

Larry Cox elevated his lifelong fascination with flying into a career of lofty ambitions and sky-high goals. An Air Force officer turned commercial pilot turned airport executive, he helped transform Memphis into an international business and travel hub during four decades with the airport here.

"Larry Cox is Memphis' unsung hero," former Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout told The Commercial Appeal in 2000, when Cox was named chairman of the American Association of Airport Executives, an organization that at the time had 5,000 members. "No one has been more important to the economic growth of our region than Larry."

Larry Dennis Cox, 76, died May 31, after what family members called "a valiant battle" with Alzheimer's disease. A "celebration of life" service will take place at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 6, in the Riverside Chapel at Memorial Park Funeral Home, 5668 Poplar Ave. Visitation begins at noon.

From 1985 until his retirement in 2014, Mr. Cox was president and CEO of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, which oversees the operation and maintenance of runways and airport buildings for the Memphis International Airport and two smaller facilities, the General Dewitt Spain Airport near Downtown and the Charles W. Baker Airport in Millington.

In addition, the Memphis airport is home to the FedEx Superhub, which reportedly handles 2.2 million packages a day, for shipping on nonstop flights to five continents.

"Larry Cox was one of the most competent airport executives in the world," said FedEx founder and chairman Frederick W. Smith, who brought his company to the Memphis airport in 1973. "We at FedEx were indeed fortunate to have him leading our most important hub airport for many years."

Also, "He was also a true gentleman," Smith said.

"Larry Cox had a profound impact on the success and growth of Memphis International Airport, and was a respected leader in the aviation industry" added current airport authority president Terry Blue. "More importantly, he was deeply committed to the Memphis community."

Born in Nashville, Mr. Cox was relocated to Memphis when his family moved here when he was 6. A 1965 graduate of Mabel C. Williams High School (now Germantown High School) and a 1969 graduate of Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), Mr. Cox enlisted in the Air Force with plans to be a career officer, but his 6-foot-7 height thwarted his desire to be a military pilot. At that height, "You wouldn't fit comfortably in the cockpit," Mr. Cox told The Commercial Appeal. "If you had to eject, it would tear your legs off."

Instead, Mr. Cox served for more than three years as a transportation officer, managing cargo and passengers good — training for his future as an airport executive. Stationed in Alaska, he earned his general aviation and commercial pilot license, and sought a job as a pilot after returning home to Memphis.

If an office or even airport terminal is not as glamorous as a cockpit, the space proved to suit Mr. Cox well. Epitomizing the concept of working-your-way-up-from-the-ground floor, he took a job in 1973 as an unpaid intern at the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority; meanwhile, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Memphis State.

As he became a paid staffer and his responsibilities at the Airport Authority increased, Mr. Cox held just about every significant available position at the airport, familiarizing himself with airport maintenance as well as airport logistics and economics. As deputy director of aviation in the early 1980s, for example, he innovated high-tech equipment upgrades that enabled airliners to better navigate icy runways.

Mr. Cox's four decades at the airport covered a lot of ground, literally (3,900 acres, including the FedEx Superhub) as well as figuratively. He was there when Congress deregulated the airline industry in 1978, creating a rapid and unprecedented expansion of air service that included the establishment of a Northwest and then Delta Airlines hub in Memphis (discontinued in 2013). However, while the hub model increased flights, it decreased competition, resulting in higher airfares for travelers and numerous complaints that included a 2004 grassroots anti-Delta campaign that lined roads to the airport with billboards that read "Runway Robbery."

Meanwhile, numerous construction projects expanded the airport while technological upgrades and security changes (especially those implemented in the wake of 9/11) altered the business of ticketing and passenger management.

Whatever the ups and downs of the industry, Mr. Cox remained bullish on aviation — and on Memphis. "I'm fortunate that I'm working in my hometown for one of the best airports in the world," he said in 2000, "where the airport has such an impact on the community."

Mr. Cox was inducted into the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame in 2005. He also was received the "Kitty Hawk Award" from the Federal Aviation Administration, which recognizes individuals in the aviation field for "exceptional leadership" and "significant contributions." In addition to being former chair of the American Association of Airport Executives, he had been president of the Southeast Chapter of AAAE, a board member for Airports Council International, and president of the Tennessee Association of Air Carrier Airports.

Mr. Cox's civic involvement extended beyond aviation. He also served as chair of the Greater Memphis Chamber, the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau (now Memphis Tourism), and the Mid-South Minority Business Council.

Mr. Cox leaves his wife, Patricia Lynn Cox; two daughters, Stephanie Burns and Leigh-Ann Johnson; a stepdaughter, Stephanie Stanfill Shearin; a stepson, Brad Stanfill; a brother, Manley Zinn Cox, Jr.; three grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren.

The family requests that donations be given to the the Larry D. Cox Scholarship benefitting undergraduate students at the University of Memphis Fogelman College of Business & Economics. Donations can be made online at https://supportum.memphis.edu/larrydcoxscholarship.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Larry Cox, former Memphis airport leader, has died: How he's remembered