Gregory T. Cox, age 49, passed away on Monday, December 5 in Bellevue, Washington.

Greg was born in Lompoc on April 25, 1962 and was the son of Terrill and Lorraine Cox. He attended Lompoc elementary schools, Vandenberg Middle School and graduated from Cabrillo High School in 1980. He was co-valedictorian of his class, student body president and a varsity letterman in basketball and golf. He was a member of the Cabrillo basketball team that won the CIF championship in 1979. In his senior year, he was captain of the golf team and all league.

Greg enjoyed sports from an early age, playing on little league teams in basketball and baseball. He also enjoyed playing golf. In the fourth grade, he started attending John Wooden's basketball camps. He learned from Coach Wooden "that success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." Greg adopted this philosophy for his life and applied these principles to sports, academics and work.

He attended Stanford University and graduated in 1984 with an A.B. in political science and economics with distinction and honors. He was Phi Beta Kappa; President, Stanford Chapter Pi Sigma Alpha (National Political Science Honor Society); wrote his Honors Thesis "A Cold Look at the Nuclear Freeze Initiative: an Analysis from an Arms Control Perspective" with Dr. Condoleeza Rice as his Advisor. Greg joined Kappa Sigma fraternity and greatly appreciated the parties. He was on the fraternity's intermural teams that competed in football, basketball and golf.

While attending Stanford, he spent a fall semester at Oxford University (the Queen's College). In the summer of 1982, he interned for Congressman Robert L. Lagomarsino (R) in Washington DC, and the following summer of 1983, he was a foreign policy intern for Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D).

After graduation, he applied to law schools and was accepted by Stanford, Harvard and Yale. He also applied to Graduate Business Schools and was accepted by Stanford and Harvard. He graduated in 1988 with a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Greg became a Corporate Attorney working for prominent law firms in Orange County. He purchased a condo and became a member of Big Canyon Country Club where he played golf as much as possible.

In 1994, he became a corporate and securities lawyer for Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati at their headquarters in Palo Alto, which is considered to be the most prominent law firm in Silicon Valley. He worked almost exclusively with venture-backed emerging growth companies, venture capital firms and leading-edge public IT companies. He had extensive experience in venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions. Greg found that he most enjoyed taking on start-up companies...some that started in a garage and in time were listed on NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1999, he became a partner in the venture capital private equity arm of a Midwest-based
Fortune 500 Company. He analyzed and considered venture investments in hundreds of emerging-growth companies across several sectors including the internet, communications, healthcare, enterprise software, energy, network security and consumer retail.

Greg continued his love for sports and enjoyed playing golf, fly fishing and watching football and basketball games. He and some of his fraternity brothers have season tickets to all of the Stanford home football and basketball games. Greg was looking forward to attending the Fiesta Bowl.

When time allowed, Greg enjoyed travelling to many parts of the world. He was always interested in the cultures and history of countries different than ours. He met many interesting people along the way. He became our travel agent and attended to every detail. He joined us in 2010 on our 50th wedding anniversary cruise to the fjords of Norway.

Those who knew him well remember Greg as a loyal and faithful friend with great compassion and a good sense of humor.

He continued in the Venture Capital/Private Equity field in Seattle until his untimely death.

He is survived by his parents, Terrill and Lorraine Cox; his uncle Dr. Alan Bleier and his Aunt Barbara Bleier of Encino; his cousins Dr. Steven Bleier and his wife Mary Rose, their children Ryan, Brendan and Kevin of Westlake Village; Kimberly Doder and her husband Peter, their children Nicholas and Victoria of Westlake Village and Kristen Bleier of Sherman Oaks.

Greg was a very loving and dedicated son and will be greatly missed by his parents, his uncle and aunt and cousins and their children, and his many friends.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 17 at 1:00 PM at Starbuck-Lind Mortuary, 123 North A Street, Lompoc.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 636,
Santa Barbara, CA 93102