Sam Fox

In 1976, Fox founded the Harbour Group, an operating company that builds and acquires businesses where he was chairman and CEO until 2007 when he left to be the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. Upon his return to the United States in 2009, he resumed his role as chairman. Since its inception, Harbour Group has built and acquired more than 176 companies in 37 industries.

Fox was born in Desloge, Missouri, to Ukrainian Jewish immigrant Michel Fuks (later Max Fox), and Fanny Gold. Encouraged by an older sister to go to college, he saved money by working summers in Illinois canning peas and corn. He also sold Fuller Brushes. After moving in with his sister and her husband in St. Louis, he enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis, where he joined Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. He graduated with a B.S.B.A. (Bachelor of Science, Business Administration) with honors in business in 1951. During the Korean War, he served in the United States Naval Reserve.

Fox died in St. Louis on December 2, 2024, at the age of 95.

For more than 40 years, Fox was active in St. Louis civic affairs. He had two terms as chairman and one as president of the St. Louis Area's Boy Scouts of America Council. He was also former president of the board of commissioners of the Saint Louis Art Museum and was a lifetime member of the Art Museum's board of trustees. In 2003 he also was chair of the $63 million capital campaign of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. From 1998 to 2004 he was chairman of a $1.5 billion capital campaign for his alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, and from 1999 to 2001 he was vice chairman of the board of trustees. In 2004 the university's board of trustees elected him a lifetime voting trustee. He was on the boards of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Louis Science Center, the Saint Louis Zoo, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Arts and Education Council of St. Louis, the St. Louis Muny Opera, and Forest Park Forever. In 2003 he was named St. Louis Citizen of the Year by the Post-Dispatch and a committee of the award's former recipients.

Outside of St.Louis, Fox was on the boards of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, based in Alexandria, Virginia; the King Baudouin Foundation United States, a New York-based nonprofit that helps U.S. donors achieve their philanthropic goals in Europe and Africa; and The Washington Center, the largest independent, nonprofit academic internship program in the United States. In addition, through the Fox Family Foundation, a private philanthropy he and his wife established in 1986, Fox provided financial assistance to hundreds of charitable organizations in St. Louis and around the world.

Fox received numerous other honors and awards, including the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship, the Marco Polo Award from the People's Republic of China, the Thomas Jefferson Award from the Missouri Historical Society, and the Sword of Ignatius Loyola Award from Saint Louis University. In 2004, Washington University dedicated its new Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, and also awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws degree. Saint Louis University awarded Fox an honorary doctorate in 2000.

A major donor to the Republican Party, Fox was a Bush Pioneer in 2000 and a "Ranger" in 2004, categories for donors who recruit others to donate. On October 15, 2004, Fox donated $50,000 to Swift Boat Veterans For Truth ("SBVT"), a 527 group that opposed John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election by claiming that Kerry exaggerated his service record. The SBVT has, in turn, been criticized for allegedly failing to substantiate many of their claims.

In later elections, Fox supported the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney and remained one of the most prominent Jewish donors to the Republican party. Fox was a past chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition. President George W. Bush appointed Sam and Marilyn Fox to the Honorary Delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008.

Fox was an early supporter of Josh Hawley and contributed to his campaign for Missouri Attorney General. He encouraged Hawley to run for US Senate against incumbent Claire McCaskill. After Hawley's support of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Fox released a statement describing Hawley's actions as "reckless pandering" and a "disgrace." In the statement Fox said that his support for Hawley was a mistake and that he would not support the senator again.