Edward Ridley Finch Cox

Edward Ridley Finch Cox (born October 2, 1946), is the chairman of the New York Republican State Committee and the son-in-law of the late President Richard M. Nixon. Cox is a lawyer in the Manhattan law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP where he has served as the Chairman of the Corporate Department and a member of the Management Committee. In 2008, Cox was named in Super Lawyers in the area of Securities & Corporate Finance and his firm was ranked third on The American Lawyer’s 2008 "A-List" of leading law firms in the United States.

Background

He was born to Howard Ellis Cox and Anne Crane Delafield Finch Cox. He is the scion of four old American families, the Finches, the Coxes, the Livingstons, and the Delafields. Cox is named for his grandfather, Judge Edward Ridley Finch, a prominent New York jurist who served as a State court judge from 1915 to 1943 and rose to be the Presiding Justice of the State's First Department and an Associate Judge on the State's highest court, the Court of appeals.[1] His father, Howard Ellis Cox, was a decorated World War II aviator and a New York lawyer and Long Island real estate developer.

Cox graduated from Princeton University (the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, class of 1968) and Harvard Law School (class of 1972). After graduating from college, Cox worked with the consumer advocate Ralph Nader as a founder of what came to be called "Nader's Raiders," co-authoring The Nader Report on the Federal Trade Commission (Baron Press, 1969) and writing articles and editorials for The New Republic. Upon graduating from law school in 1972, Cox campaigned extensively for the reelection of his father-in-law, President Nixon, and after the election he and his wife traveled to Europe and the Soviet Union, meeting privately with leaders and their families. Cox subsequently was a lawyer with Cravath, Swaine and Moore in New York.

From 1981 to 1983 Cox served in the Reagan Administration as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of a government corporation, The United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation. In 1983, Cox returned to the practice of law in New York where he has also served in a number of volunteer governmental and non-governmental charitable posts: a founding director of the Student/Sponsor Partners (supporting and mentoring inner-city parochial school students, 1985 to present), a Commissioner of the Commission on Judicial Nomination (nominating candidates for New York's highest court, 1991 to present), Chairman of the New York Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (1995 to 2008), Chairman of the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (1995 to present), a Trustee of the State University of New York (SUNY)(1995 to present) and a director of the New York Institute for Special Education (1994 to present). As a Trustee, Cox was a founder of SUNY's Charter School Institute (authorizes charter schools), of its Community College Committee, of its Institute for Community College Development and of its Task Force on Energy and the Environment. In these capacities he fostered the development of cutting edge policies and programs for K-12 education, teacher training and facilities evaluation and has been a leader in energy and environmental policy making. After the 2006 election, Cox chaired Attorney-Elect Andrew Cuomo's environmental transition team. In 2007 and 2008, Cox chaired John McCain's New York campaign. While practicing law, Cox has also served three presidents, and particularly President Nixon, in the international arena.

[edit]Personal history

In 1971, Cox married Tricia Nixon, daughter of then-President Nixon, in a White House Rose Garden ceremony. The wedding was described in Life Magazine as "akin to American royalty." Tricia and Edward have a son, Christopher N. Cox [2]. They currently reside on Long Island, New York.

[edit]Professional history

After attending Harvard Law School, Cox was admitted to the New York State bar in 1973. In 1974 he was admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Cox has held a number of positions in government and professional organizations. Some of these include: Commissioner, New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination; founder of New York Secretary of State's Corporation Advisory Task Force; Member, New York, Federal and American (Corporate Section) Bar associations, New York Bar Foundation, New York City Bar and American College of Investment Counsel; Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Federal Energy Finance Agency; Chairman, New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund; Chairman, State University Construction Fund; Trustee, State University of New York (Chair, Finance and Administration Committee; Co-Chair, Charter Schools Committee; and Co-Chair, Community College Committee); Chair, New York State Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Trustee, Fund for Modern Courts; Director, Noble Energy, Inc. (an NYSE worldwide oil and gas exploration and production company); Assisted President Nixon with trips to China, Cuba, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Egypt, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, England, Japan, North andSouth Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Pakistan, and Turkey; Fact-finding trips to Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Russia; Member or otherwise active in various foreign policy organizations, including Foreign Policy Association (Director) and Council on Foreign Relations.

At Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, LLP, he handles corporate and finance law with experience in general representation of public and private entities, including financings, acquisitions, and joint ventures, both domestic and international. He was previously a partner at the now-defunct, old-line New York law firm of Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine. In 1997, Mr. Cox and his former law firm were sued, along with their client, by the purchaser in a foreclosure action Florida Power & Light of a failed power plant venture in South Carolina. He is the author of "Reinvigorating the FTC: The Nader Report and the Rise of Consumer Advocacy," 72 Antitrust Law Journal 899 (2005) and has lectured on the legal aspects of cogeneration financing and of the sale of venture companies.

Cox was Battalion Commander of his Army ROTC unit at Princeton and subsequently served with the 11th Special Forces Group.

[edit]Political ambitions

Although initially rumored to be considering a run for New York Governor George Pataki's seat should he not seek re-election, he later chose instead to run against Hillary Clinton in the 2006 New York U.S. Senate election for her seat. Initial reports indicated he would run as a fiscal conservative and an environmentalist. However, following Governor Pataki's endorsement of rival Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, Cox announced on October 14 that he was no longer running for the U.S. Senate.[2]

Cox has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the governor position in 2010.[3]

He was elected chairman of the New York State Republican Committee at the Committee's meeting on September 30, 2009.[4]

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