OBITUARY -- Robert S. ‘Bob’ Knox

Mathis Winkler

Robert S. “Bob” Knox, a longtime community activist in Newport Beach

and current member of the Newport Beach Public Library Board of Trustees,

died at his Bay Shore Drive home Tuesday. He was 70.

“He was the most honest man I have ever known,” said Jenny Knox, his

36-year-old daughter.

“He always said, ‘Pick a beautiful place to live, and you will go from

there,”’ said Jenny Knox, who lives in Tahoe City.

After years of spending summer vacations in Newport Beach, Knox

permanently moved to the city in 1979. He became a library trustee in

1998 and had served as a director of Speak Up Newport since 1994.

“He absolutely loved Newport Beach,” said Knox’s son, Dave, 41, of

Nelson, Canada, adding that his father took pride in swimming in the bay

each day from May through October.

An avid golfer, tennis player and skier, Knox’s final illness -- he

suffered from skin cancer -- prevented him from joining a group of

friends on a skiing trip, his son said.

The youngest of three sons, Knox was born in Sacramento on Feb. 27,

1930. He completed his early education in the Pasadena-Alhambra area,

graduating from Alhambra High School in 1948 and attending Pasadena City

College. After enrolling at Occidental College, he graduated with a

degree in business administration from the University of Arizona in

Tucson as a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

He then entered the Marine’s officers candidate school at Quantico,

Va., where he earned a commission as a 2nd lieutenant and was assigned to

the Cold Weather Survival School in California’s High Sierra during the

Korean War.

After his honorable discharge, Knox joined his family’s business, Knox

Motors, in Alhambra and began importing cars.

After his divorce in the late 1970s, Knox married Penny Scott, a

teacher in the Irvine Unified School District, in 1990.

“He was always a gentle and good man,” his wife said.

In addition to his wife and children Dave, Jenny and Steve, 39, of

White Fish, Mont., Knox is survived by his brother, Jack, of Richmond,

stepchildren Beau, 31; Brandi, 29; and Cindy, 25; and grandchildren Riley

and Delaney, both 2.

A memorial service will be held in the Friends Meeting Room at the

Newport Beach Library at 1 p.m. Sunday. In lieu of flowers, the family

requests donations be made to either the Newport Beach Public Library or

the Hoag Cancer Center.