Chana Cox

Friends of Lewis & Clark Remembered

Chana Cox, senior lecturer emerita in the humanities, died March 2, 2019. Cox received her BA in mathematics from Reed College and her PhD in philosophy from Columbia University.

By academic training, Cox was a scholar of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and of 17th- century philosophy of science. During her many years at Lewis & Clark, she taught the first-year course, Exploration and Discovery, as well as courses in history, political science, and classics. She was the author of several books, plays, and other writings, including Liberty: God’s Gift to Humanity (Lexington Books, 2006), Reflections on the Logic of the Good (Lexington Books, 2007), A River Went Out of Eden (Lexikos, 1992), and a fictional thriller called Inungilak (Suckerfish Books, 2013).

According to her son, Richard Harvester, “Her aspiration was to be a Renaissance woman, and that required touching many different aspects of life.” In addition to her scholarly interests, she once lived in the wilds of Idaho and organized explorations in the Canadian Arctic.

Her Lewis & Clark family will long remember her as an enthusiastic and passionate teacher.