Henry David Dawson

HENRY CHARLES COX (aka H. DAVID DAWSON) H. David Dawson (Henry Cox) of Encinitas, CA passed away at home on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 after a long and heroic 10-year battle with cancer. He was born in Rochester, NY on December 22, 1941 and moved to California in 1966 following the death of his beloved mother. His dread of New York winters and the lure of the California beach scene of the 60’s prompted him to pack up his car and hit the road in 1966 on Rt. 66 for the west coast where he made his home for the remainder of his life. When asked why he decided to change his name after moving to California, he explained that he always disliked being called “Hank”, so while he was legally changing his first name he decided to change both – and since celebrities routinely change their names, he decided to do it match his new West Coast persona (although he never claimed to be a celebrity). Following his graduation from Caledonia-Mumford Central School in the top 5% of his class in 1959, he attended the University of Buffalo where he obtained early entrance into its graduate dental program after only two years and one summer session as an undergraduate. His mother was the driving force behind his becoming a dentist, but after his first semester in dental school he realized that he really didn’t want to spend the rest of his life peering into other people’s mouths! After moving to California, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University. He worked at San Diego State as a computer programmer for a number of years before devoting himself full-time to his own real estate development business and career as a stock market investor. He was predeceased in death by his parents Henry John and Harriet Margaret Cox. He was survived by his beloved partner of 20 years, Rhonda Towne (who unfortunately succumbed to a heart attack just 9 days after his death on January 30, 2015). He is also survived by his loving daughter Stephanie (Patrick) Gomez, son Tim Dawson; sister Jane (Jim) Wood, brother Bill (Mary) Cox; grandchildren Gabriel and Gavin Gomez and Korban Salazar; nieces Becky (George) Caswell and Jill Cox; nephews Jon (Phyllis) Ehrmentraut and Mike Cox. A celebration of his life is being held at The El Camino Memorial Chapel on Friday, February 6 at 2 pm, followed by burial at 3 pm and a reception at 4 pm. See web site for directions.