Martha Heasley Cox

February 26, 1919-September 5, 2015

Martha Heasley Cox died peacefully on September 5, 2015, in San Francisco, where she had lived for 22 years. Born in Calico Rock, Arkansas, she was the daughter of Jesse Richard and Lillian Seay Heasley. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas, and completed her doctorate degree at the University of Arkansas in 1955. That year she joined the faculty at San José State University, where she taught for 34 years.

Professor Cox was noted for her textbooks on teaching composition and for her critical studies of American authors. She was the Founding Director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San José State University, where she endowed Steinbeck Fellowships to support promising writers. She also endowed a lecture series to bring distinguished speakers to the University. In 2000 she received the Tower Award, SJSU’s highest recognition for service to the University.

At Lyon College, she endowed the Cox Chair in American literature and the Leila Lenore Heasley Prize for distinguished writers.

In San Francisco, she helped to endow the California Book Awards at the Commonwealth Club and the “Raw Play Series” at the Magic Theatre.

Professor Cox is survived by Annas Heasley, sister-inlaw; David Heasley, nephew; and Annette Heasley, niece, in Arkansas. She was preceded in death by two brothers, Therrell and Paul, and by her sister Leila Lenore Heasley.

Memorial gifts honoring Professor Cox may be made to the Tower Foundation of San José State University or to Lyon College, Batesville, AR. A memorial service will be held in the Steinbeck Center, Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, at San José State University on October 6, 2015, at 2:00 p.m.