Cox was found dead in the living room of his charred home Thursday around 3 a.m. by fire crews.
He was a charter member of the New Carlisle Eagles Club 3941 and currently serving as the chapter’s chaplain.
“He was a very good man,” New Carlisle Eagle Trustee Larry Campbell said. “He’s going to be very missed around here, because he was kind of like a backbone for this Aerie. It’s just going to be heartbreaking for a little while.”
The Bethel Twp. Fire Department and other area crews responded to Cox’s home Thursday around 12:30 a.m., according to Bethel Twp. Fire Inspector Andrew Goings. The department had an unconfirmed report of an individual inside the home, but the flames were too big to enter at that point, he said.
After the fire was under control, crews entered the home and found Cox in his living room.
Fire crews spent much of Thursday afternoon at the home making sure flames did not restart.
Goings said Cox was a collector and there was two to three feet of debris on the floor of most of the home, which made it difficult to completely extinguish the fire.
The home is considered a total loss, said Goings. He will work with the state fire marshall’s office to determine a cause of the fire, but said at this point the fire probably started from an electrical problem or possibly a space heater in the home.
Campbell joined the New Carlisle Eagles in 2001 and said Cox was mentor to him. He called Cox one of the smartest men he had ever known, noting that he memorized all 3,000 words to the organization’s ritual.
Campbell said Cox was a chemist for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and retired when he was in his 40s. Neighbors told Bethel Twp. Fire Department Lt. Chris Cotterman that Cox had been involved in developing types of rocket fuel.
Brittany Diviak, an Eagles employee, said she only knew Cox for a year and half, but described him as a smart, quiet man who loved to read.
Cox would come to the Eagles every day and read a book in the same seat. He would also do about 80 push-ups as well as some sit-ups and jumping jacks every day at the club, Diviak said.
She said her favorite memory of Cox was the first time she saw him working out at the club.
“I always got worried,” Diviak said. “I was afraid he would hurt himself, but he was very active.”
Campbell said that Cox had no known family left in the area and that the Eagles will hold a meeting today to organize his funeral arrangements.
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