Robert Leroy Fox
May 20, 1929-Oct. 3, 1963
NILESITE INJURED FATALLY
Robert L. Fox Dead; Brother Faces Charges
Victim's Wife Refused to Ride With Pair From County Hospital
ROBERT LEROY Fox, 34, of 620 Sycamore St., was injured fatally in a one-car accident at 9:16 p.m. Thursday on Dean's Hill Road, about three-fourths of a mile east of Berrien Springs.
The victim's brother, Delbert D. Fox Jr., 1912 S. 3rd St., driver of the car, is in "fair" condition in Berrien County Hospital, Berrien Center, with multiple injuries to the head, arm, back and face.
The accident is still under investigation by the Berrien County sheriff's department and the driver of the car will be held for investigation of reckless homicide upon his release from the hospital, according to Undersheriff Joseph Heward.
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THE FOX brothers were returning to Niles from the Berrien County Hospital where they went to pick up the dead man's wife, Marjorie, and their infant daughter, Tammy, who was born there this week.
Shefiff's deputies said Mrs. Fox refused to go home with the pair when they showed up after drinking intoxicants. Hospital officials said Mrs. Fox telephoned her parents who took her and the infant girl home, leaving the Fox brothers to drive back here alone.
Fox' death was the 34th traffice[sic] fatality of the year in Berrien County, compared to 38 traffic deaths on the same date last year.
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INVESTIGATING officers said Delbert Fox was driving south on Dean's Hill Road at a "high rate of speed" and failed to negotiate a curve.
His car, which was demolished, left the road and skidded along the shoulder before knocking over a mailbox. The auto then skidded sideways into a telephone pole guy wire.
At this point, the automobile left the ground and struck a tree nine feet off the ground, bounced back to earth and struck a second tree before coming to rest with the driver pinned behind the steering wheel and his brother beside him in the front seat.
Dr. Ralph D. Gustin, deputy medical examiner from Berrien Springs, ruled the death accidental, due to shock, hemorrhaging and a broken neck.
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MR. FOX was born May 20, 1929, in Berrien Springs.
Survivors include his widow, Marjorie; two daughters, Donna and Tammy, and three sons, Robert Jr., Bryan and Todd, all at home; another daughter, Lillian, Buchanan; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Fox Sr.; a brother, Delbert Jr., Niles; two sisters, Mrs. Gloria McKamey, Rushville, Ind., and Mrs. Mary Jane Harker, Jackson; his grandmother, Mrs. Minnie Fox, Berrien Springs.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday in the Pifer Funeral Home. The Rev. Richard Fraser, pastor of St. John's United Church of Christ (Evangelical and Reformed), will officiate. Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.
Friends will be received at the funeral home beginning Saturday evening.
Niles Daily Star, Friday, October 4, 1963, page 1, col. 8, continued Page 2, col. 3-4, microfilm Niles District Library