The Queen's College Record 2020

Obituaries
Christensen was committed to both community and church. In addition to a stint as
a White House Fellow, he was an elected member of the Belmont Town Council for
eight years, and served the Boy Scouts of America for 25 years as a scoutmaster,
cub master, den leader, and troop and pack committee chairman. He also served as a
missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Republic of Korea
from 1971 to 1973, spoke fluent Korean, and was a leader in his church.
He is survived by his loving wife Christine; five children – Matthew, Ann, Michael,
Spencer and Catherine (Kate); and nine grandchildren.
This is an abridged version of the obituary published by Harvard Business School on
their website, on 26 January 2020.
ALBERT COX
Albert William Cox OBE was considered by all those
who knew him as ‘a real British gentleman’ of great
intellectual curiosity. His daughters most particularly
remember his encyclopaedic knowledge and interest in
history, only surpassed by his general love of books and
his typical response to questions: ‘let’s look it up’, as he
had a book for everything.
The elder of two sons, Albert was born in Cheshunt
(Herts) in 1930 and died at the age of 90 in April 2020. He
was educated at the Enfield County Grammar School and was known as a fun-loving
and hardworking student. As a child, even during the war, he devised all sorts of moneymaking
schemes (such as making clothes pegs and mending clocks and watches) so
that he could start investing in his collection of Penguin paperbacks. He then did his
national service in the army where he also taught English, before attending The Queen’s
College where he studied modern languages and thereby found his vocation.
Albert very much enjoyed his time at Oxford, investing in books and good sherry and
often spoke of those years with great pride. After graduating, he left England to move to
Strasbourg for work and this was where he met the love of his life, Sonia, who became
his wife some years later. He often remembered their carefree moments cruising around
on his Lambretta, as well as their holidays in the south of France. They then moved to
Paris where he commenced his lifelong career as an international civil servant, using
his superlative talent and passion for languages, in particular French. He was valued
for his absolute discretion in the workplace, especially given the particularly interesting
and challenging context of post-war Europe and the Cold War. In the 1960s they
moved to Brussels, where he remained until his retirement. Later in this period, Albert’s
keen interest in modern technology led him to introduce the use of computers in his
department, thoroughly revolutionising his workplace. He was awarded an OBE in 1993.
120 The Queen’s College | College Record 2020