Vol 28 No.6 - May 2006 - TUI

www.tui.ieAppreciationsColum CoxColum has gone from us – long before histime. No more will he clunk his weightybriefcase on top of your filing cabinet andfish out a technical article concerningengineering or the latest gizmo or a criticalarticle suggesting that overall, coursesare being “dumbed-down” right acrossacademia. Principles were important toColum – if it didn’t feel right then it couldnot be right – and he stuck to his guns!Colum spent his early years in Londonand completed his secondary educationat Clongowes Wood College where heplayed cricket for the school. Along witha colleague, who is now a very prominentJesuit priest, he played as A.N. Other in theLeinster Cricket League.He returned to London and joinedthe Engineering section of Post OfficeTelephones. After some years, he metMaureen and they married. He subsequentlycompleted his engineering studies at EssexUniversity as a mature student and this gavehim a great insight into the hurdles thatmature students have to cross to successfullycomplete their studies.He had a talent for drawing and for finedetailed woodwork and, even in the last fewweeks of his life, was drawing and colouringfine images of local flowers as he lay in hishospital bed. This attention to detail wascarried into his course and lecture notes andhe spent many hours preparing and finelyhoning his material. He earned the greatrespect of his students as evidenced by thenumber visiting him in hospital, the inquiriesabout his condition when they were unableto visit and the massive turnout at his funeral.Column had the great satisfaction ofseeing his son Damien and daughter Clairecompleting their doctoral degrees. Just weeksbefore his death, he received a most preciousgift when his daughter Nicola gave birth to hisgrandson – the significance of the biblical wish‘May you live to see your children’s children’would certainly not be wasted on Colum.He was a man of great faith both at thespiritual level and at the human level and hisefforts on behalf of students and colleaguesare legendary. He did not stop at simplyboosting morale but produced a screwdriveror a hammer, rolled up the sleeves andpitched in. When disaster threatened, Columwas always there to help. A phone-call wasenough to bring Colum racing to your aid.His time was not his own but belonged tothose of us, who needed it more than he did.Colum was the first recording secretary ofthe then RTC Galway branch of TUI. Heserved as a member of the RTC Board ofManagement as well as a member of theStudent Hardship committee.He was active on many committees rangingfrom the IEEE Pedagogical Group, the localprimary school Board of Management,Software Engineering panels, local creditunion etc. etc.He and Maureen were very involved in setdancing and, although not a musician himself,he greatly enjoyed traditional music.We will all sorely miss him!COLUM COX38 TUI NEWS