Fox was born in Atchison, Kansas and graduated from Woodberry Forest School in 1946.
He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Carolina in 1950.
[1] He then received a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1957, serving as a law clerk to Judge Donnell Gilliam of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina from 1957 to 1958.
He served as Chief Judge from 1990 to 1997, and assumed senior status on January 31, 2001.
[2] Fox retired into inactive senior status on March 31, 2017, meaning that while he remained a federal judge, he no longer heard cases or participated in the business of the court.