Karl August Fox, 90, of Ames, died April 20 at Northcrest Health Care Center in Ames, Iowa. No services are planned at this time. The family will host a reception at a later date.
Karl Fox was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 14, 1917, to Anna Wilcken and Feramorz Young Fox. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Utah, and completed a master’s degree in sociology there. He received his PhD in economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He married Sylvia Cate in Salt Lake City in 1940.
He was an economist with the Department of Agriculture from 1942 to 1954, first in San Francisco, and then in Washington, DC. His first position in Washington was with the War Food Administration. He received the Superior Service Award for his part in the planning for the post-World War II Marshall Plan. He later became head of the Division of Statistical and Historical Research of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Agricultural Economics. There his strengths in mathematics and statistics contributed to the wider application of econometric analysis. In 1954-55 he was a senior staff economist with the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
He joined the faculty of Iowa State University in 1955 as head of the Department of Economics and Sociology. When Sociology became a separate department in 1966, he continued as head of the Department of Economics until 1972, when he returned to research and teaching. He was designated a distinguished professor in 1968 and received a distinguished service award in 1995. He retired in 1987 but remained active in research and writing until 1994. He greatly appreciated his colleagues at Iowa State University, and spoke often about their research contributions and their impact on economic theory and policy.
He was a prolific writer, authoring or co-authoring numerous articles and several books on economics, econometrics and statistics, as well as the emerging fields of social indicators, social accounts, social systems analysis and eco-behavioral science.
He received many honors for his contributions to scholarship, including being named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Econometric Society, the American Agricultural Economics Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the Merit of Honor Award from the Emeritus Alumni Association of the University of Utah in 1992.
He is survived by his wife Sylvia; his son Karl of Pittsburgh, PA; his daughter Karen of Mountain View, CA; two grandchildren, Owen and Valerie; and great-granddaughter Tori. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers.
The family suggests that, in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be directed to Youth and Shelter Services Foundation, 420 Kellogg Avenue, P.O. Box 1628, Ames, IA 50010.