Jack Cox, a retired UMSL professor who taught accounting and auditing, is a 2013 UMSL Distinguished Contributor. (Photo by Aaron Mayes)

Jack Cox taught accounting and auditing to thousands of University of Missouri–St. Louis students for more than two decades before he retired in 1995.

“Teaching is something I always enjoyed,” Cox said from his home in Henderson, Nev. “All of it – in the classroom, watching my students graduate and then coming back to St. Louis years later and seeing how so many alumni have advanced in their careers and become successful – is so heartwarming.”

Though Cox no longer teaches at UMSL, he remains a friend of the university. He holds memberships in the Auguste Chouteau Society and The 1963 Society.

Many of Cox’s past pupils have followed in his footsteps to become friends of UMSL. To honor their teacher and mentor, Cox’s former students started the Jack Cox Accounting Scholarship Fund in 1994. The fund totals more than $72,000, which provides nearly $4,000 in annual scholarship benefits.

Cox also has made annual contributions since the fund began. And he added a significant planned gift last year. Every year, in perpetuity, the fund will provide $27,000 in scholarships to UMSL accounting students.

Why give back? Cox said it was simple.

“I was so student-oriented as a teacher,” he said. “And many UMSL students need financial help in order to attend a university.”

A scholarship fund can be established through an estate gift, a life income plan or other planned gift. Regardless of the method, a scholarship fund will continue to cast a positive impact on the future of countless students. Just ask anyone of the students who have benefited from the generosity of Jack Cox for more than 20 years.

This story originally appeared in the 2013 issue of University of Missouri–St. Louis Distinguished Contributors.