Leland Stanford Fox

Published 9:39 am Sunday, March 11, 2018

NATCHEZ — A choral evensong service for Leland Standford Fox, 87, of Natchez and Oxford, who died Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, in Natchez where he retired in 2015, will be 5:30 p.m. Sunday, March 18, 2018, at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Local arrangements are under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

A memorial service will be 1 p.m. Friday, March 16, 2018, at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford.

Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until service time at the church.

Leland Fox, 87, was a resident of Natchez, Oxford, and New York City. Born in Worcester, Mass., he was professor of music, director of opera and associate dean at the University of Mississippi.

He had two degrees from Baylor University and a Ph.D. from Florida State University.

He started his career as a chorister in the St. James Boys Choir in NYC. He sang from the time he was nine years old until he was 16, after winning a city-wide singing contest promoting war bonds. Orphaned at 16, he charted his own course. He was a singing waiter and auditioned for the original cast of South Pacific. After working for Good Housekeeping, he was drafted and stationed in Texas, where he lived for 10 years.

He met his wife of 53 years, Wanda Nelson, at Baylor. They first sang together in Madame Butterfly. He was a tenor. He sang and conducted music across the country. His favorites included Handel’s Messiah, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and Danny Boy. He was the choir director at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford for 20 years.

He completed his 75th year of singing in choirs at Trinity Episcopal Church in Natchez. He was president of the National Opera Association and founding editor of the Opera Journal. At Ole Miss he started Summer Showcase, directing musicals for the community. He directed and sang in many operas and was true to his calling as a singer, conductor and educator. He also taught music at Baylor, the University of Oklahoma, and Pensacola Junior College, where he discovered his love of the beach. He was an avid reader, a gentleman and an example to many. He often led sing-alongs, especially on St. Patrick’s Day.

He is survived by his second wife of nine years, Emily Crews Fox; two children, Megan Knox and Gina Ardoin of Lake Charles, La., and Kevin Fox and wife, Margo, of Austin, Texas; and his beloved grandchildren, Noah and Kyra.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 113 S. 9th St., Oxford, MS 38655 or the Trinity Episcopal Church Choral Scholarship Fund, 305 S. Commerce St., Natchez, MS 39120.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at lairdfh.com.