Pianist, music teacher Cox dies

Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 9 a.m.

Lillian Bauer Cox, a noted classical pianist and an active music teacher into her 80s, died Monday at her Las Vegas home. She was 83.

Cox, whose career included performances at Carnegie and Constitution halls and other leading concert venues in the United States and Canada, in recent years performed benefit concerts at the Boulder Dam Hotel. The most recent was in March.

"She was an amazing woman, full of talent and grace," said Boulder City resident Linda Faiss, who helped arrange Cox's appearances at the hotel. "(She) made everyone's life more beautiful by just knowing her."

Cox's daughter Laura Taylor Mulkey, a pianist, vocalist and composer, said: "Students would drive from Bakersfield and fly from San Francisco to take lessons from my mother. She has been an inspiration to countless aspiring pianists throughout the country."

After graduating from the Julliard Graduate School of Music, Cox was a soloist with several orchestras, including a guest appearance with Aaron Copland, playing a solo piano performance of his "Our Town Suite."

Cox taught at the Caputo Conservatory of Musical Art, Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music, as well as at Syracuse University.

Cox is survived by her daughter; her son, Robert Cox Jr.; a brother, Harry Bauer; six grandchildren; and four great grandchildren.

Memorial services were held Thursday.

The family said donations can be made in Cox's memory to the American Diabetes Association.