Sondra M. Cox

Sondra Miriam Cox (1934-2026)

Sondra Miriam Cox (nee Hirsch) was much like Chicago, the city she made her

home for most of her life – caring, creative, eclectic, rooted in tradition but

never afraid to defy convention. Loved by family and friends both for her

intellect and her joyful approach to life, she was known to most as Sonny. It

was a nickname given with a nod to her typically cheerful disposition.

Her interests were numerous, diverse and a little idiosyncratic. Among them

were 19 th century literature, Italian opera, travel, the game of bridge, English

and Scottish history, and of course her hometown. She could speak with

authority, passion and deep knowledge on the life and works of Charles

Dickens, the vocal range of Jussi Björling, the intricacies of point count bidding

or the exquisiteness of a well-prepared martini. Above all, she cared about

family and education, often intertwining the two. In her personal life, she

instilled a lifelong love of learning in her four children, and in her professional

life, she brought new ways of thinking into the field of adult education.

Sondra Cox died in her home in Hyde Park, Chicago on the 20th of April 2026

from the effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was 91.

Sondra made it her mission to make education accessible to everyone. Well

into her late 70s, after an accomplished career spearheading educational

projects and building professional networks in the Midwest, she would spend

countless hours providing detailed instruction and feedback for young students

who had written essays for the American School of Lansing Illinois.

Born in Chicago on the 5th of July 1934 to Maxwell and Dorothy Hirsch, she

grew up in the shadow of two of the defining events of the 20th century: the

Great Depression and the Second World War.

As a young girl, she may not have been fully aware of the historical significance

of all that was happening around her, but by the time she reached university,

she had developed a profound love of history, seeing in it a prism for

understanding the fast-changing world in which she and her family lived. She

was fond of telling her children, often during heated intellectual arguments, that

they needed to go back and learn their history.

Sondra believed in family and community. Her Jewish roots were important to

her, as was the sense of morality and fair play that she inherited from her

parents. Her father served as an attorney for the state of Illinois, and she often

spoke admiringly of his deep commitment to justice and honesty. Her mother

worked as a secretary for an executive at Sears Roebuck, and contributed to

the war effort, helping to prepare technical documents.

But Sondra also had a bohemian streak and was always prepared to go her

own way. She married first a poet and then a community theatre director,

ultimately raising her children as a single mother. Although she did not like to

apply the term “feminist” to herself, she was in some ways a pioneer of modern

feminism.

After graduating with a BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences from the University of

Illinois, Sondra married the poet Robert Sward and moved to Iowa, where

Sward joined the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her first child, Cheryl, was born

there in 1957.

The marriage did not last, and Sondra soon returned with Cheryl to Chicago at

the end of the 1950s. She moved to the neighborhood of Hyde Park, attracted

by its vibrant intellectual climate. This would become both a spiritual and literal

home for her for most of the next six decades.

Following her divorce from Sward, she married David Cox in 1960. Another

native Chicagoan, he had served in the Korean War and returned to his

hometown to act and direct plays in the local theatre community. They had

three children together, Daniel, born in 1960, Adam in 1964 and Jessica in

1970.

In the 1960s, Sondra worked as a secretary in the Philosophy Department at

the University of Chicago. There she met some of the brightest minds in

American academic circles – some of whom had won or would go on to win

Nobel Prizes and other major awards – and formed friendships that lasted a

lifetime.

In the next decade, Sondra embarked on a career in education, first working for

Porter County, Indiana where she raised funds and developed adult education

projects. She created a network of institutions across the state that changed

the provision of adult education services at a time when the workforce was

becoming increasingly diversified and gender balanced. She built on this work

during her time at Truman College, initiating citywide systemic changes.

Only late in life did Sondra speak much with her family about all she had done

for the Indiana and Illinois education systems. She had always been more

interested in the accomplishments of her children, two of whom attained PhDs,

one of whom directed a major award-winning documentary, and one of whom

fashioned a career in Hollywood before moving back to care for her in Chicago.

In her final years, she enjoyed travel, time with family and simple pleasures

such as coffee in the morning and a martini every evening at 5 pm as she

watched the news. She enjoyed traveling to visit Cheryl and granddaughter

Maxine, and Adam and grandsons Joshua and Asher. Determined to keep

learning at every opportunity, she would often ask her grandchildren about

whatever they were studying or reading, quizzing them on theories, authors or

concepts she had not heard about before.

Sondra is survived by all four children, Cheryl, Daniel, Adam and Jessica, and

by grandchildren Joshua Pemberton Cox, Asher Pemberton Cox and Maxine

Lily Ann Macpherson. Her second husband David died in 1996; her first

husband Robert died in 2022.