Mike Cox

It’s hard to put into words how much Mike Cox meant to me and so many others. He was more than a scientist, entrepreneur, and mentor—he was a true friend, a father figure, and a source of support. From the time I first met him, I admired his passion for learning, whether it was through his work at Anaerobe Systems (Take a look at his website. Its far from basic bacteria chat. https://anaerobesystems.com/ ) or through his love of food, community, and life.
We shared many things in common. Both of us had Texas roots—he from Texas and me having gone to UT Austin and high school in Dallas. We also shared a love for good food, and I’ll never forget how he would order oysters and invite us over for those memorable dinners. I will always cherish the evenings spent with him sharing an amazing bottle of wine, especially when he taught my husband how to make pizzas in his pizza oven. He had a way of making the simple things feel special.
As a photographer, I had the privilege of capturing moments of him and his beautiful family, and I feel so lucky to have those memories preserved in time. But beyond the snapshots, it was his generosity and commitment to helping younger people—whether artists like myself or budding scientists—that really stood out. He was always looking for ways to support and uplift others, never asking for anything in return.
We were both in Rotary together, loving being in community service. And while we didn’t always agree—our debates about probiotics and the microbiome were both lively.—it was clear that his curiosity and dedication to discovery fueled everything he did. I will miss those conversations, and most of all, I will miss him.
Mike, your legacy lives on not just through your scientific contributions, but through the lives you touched, the kindness you spread, and the support you gave to so many. Thank you for everything you did for me and for our community. You will be deeply missed, but never forgotten.
What a wonderful celebration of life yesterday at one of the most generous wineries in town, just like Mike. Guglielmo Winery.
Love this family! So Bittersweet to be reunited with so many friends from Morgan Hill. Like everyone said, Mike would have loved to be at this party. Mary, my heart goes out to you. ❤️
With love and gratitude,
Lori McIntosh

My talk at Mike's Celebration of Life Event:

I first met Mike when I was a post-doc at UCLA in 1981. He asked me to teach a class at Cal State Northridge that he was sponsoring. That support for helping others to learn about science was a cornerstone of his philosophy. He created new learning methods, bringing people together to learn from each other, and supporting teachers. With other anaerobic microbiology experts, Mike created a hands-on workshop format using a combination of visual images and actual laboratory exercises that allowed participants to feel confident and perform quality anaerobic microbiology work after only several days of training. He was invited to take that workshop all around the world, from Institute Pasteur in France to the National University of Taiwan. And the students were so engaged, so excited to be learning this way, that some of them literally RAN across the room to look into a microscope or see a colony on a petri plate. As a major sponsor of local and national microbiology organizations and trainings, Mike continued to foster science learning activities in addition to his own workshops during his entire career.
In the world of diagnostic microbiology, Dr. Sydney Finegold (my mentor at UCLA) is known as the “Father of Anaerobic Microbiology”, but Dr. Finegold’s vision would never have come to fruition without the equally prescient vision of Mike Cox, whose innovative ideas about making accessible anaerobic chambers and easy-to-store and easy-to-use anaerobic petri plates and tubed media allowed clinical laboratories to actually do the work of finding, identifying and testing the important pathogenic anaerobic bacteria that Dr. Finegold emphasized. And Mike didn’t just generate ideas; he put those ideas into practice at Anaerobe Systems, the company he founded.
Because he was acknowledged as an expert in the field, he was asked to help write the first CLSI definitive guideline M56-A “Principles and Procedures for Detection of Anaerobes in Clinical Specimens”. His methods were foundational and are still used by laboratories around the world.
Mike embarked on learning all about the harm that oxygen can do; and nobody knew more about its toxic properties - from turning the flesh of a fresh-cut apple brown, to the harmful changes in the blood agar Petri dishes that microbiologists rely on to identify pathogenic bacteria. In fact, anaerobic bacteria did not grow on petri plates incubated in the usual manner. For decades, laboratory technologists failed to recognize the causes of many of our most common infections (appendicitis, some types of sore throats, gangrene, brain abscesses, to name a few) because the cultures they examined in the routine laboratory were not able to grow those microbes because of the toxicity of oxygen in the air. Mike Cox invented a whole new process to make those special Petri plates and other necessary supplies in an oxygen-free environment. His factory is a wonder of modern engineering! Suddenly with Mike’s products, the anaerobic bacteria produced visible colonies that the laboratory scientists could recognize and identify and test. Innumerable lives have been saved and will continue to be saved as a result. Now the business that he created is facilitating work by a new generation of scientists who study the Microbiome of humans, animals, and the environment. And his son Steve is at the forefront of Anaerobe Systems, devising and creating products that facilitate scientists who are working in this new scientific revolution. Steve is carrying on Mike’s vision.
Mike took both Steve and his daughter Laurie into the production facility and his laboratory when they were just young kids. He gave them the basics and the tools and said “learn about it and make it work”. And they did. Today Steve uses his engineering expertise to refine anaerobic chambers and lead Anaerobe Systems to enable new directions in research and diagnostic testing. And Laurie has had a meteoric rise to directing her own funded laboratory at no less than Harvard University, exploring the influence of the human Microbiome on autism, obesity, Alzheimer’s and other plagues of mankind. What a legacy!
More recently Mike began to utilize products of microbial fermentation to create energy. An early demonstration of his vision was a nearby facility where grass clippings (usually just discarded to add to the waste stream) were fed to anaerobic bacteria in a small fermentation tank which broke them down into hydrogen and other byproducts. The hydrogen ran a converted gasoline engine that provided electricity to power the building without creating any environmental pollutants. Then he realized that the gunk in the bottom of the fermentation tank, when dumped out on the garden, caused amazing growth of the plants. Another new industry was born. With his deep understanding of the processes of bacterial metabolism, Mike could optimize the bacterial mix to stimulate natural soil microbes to send nutrients to the roots of plants. And FermeGrow, his most recent innovative product, is now transforming farming and gardening with its superior growth enhancement but its environmentally responsible ingredients.
Mike was one in a million, his influence will be felt well into the future. In fact, he saw the future and was equipped and determined to be part of it. His vision and his steadfast support were honored by the Anaerobe Society of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. The entire Microbiology Community is bereft at his loss. We will miss him!

Steve and I met Mike seven years ago at the Knoph's Rotary Front Porch Friday. Steve spent several hours sitting with Mike and marveling at the stories and experiences he shared. Mike was fascinating and funny. Despite his intelligence and success, he had no ego and was equally interested in what others had to say. We wish we had more time with Mike are are forever grateful for the time we shared.

I met Mike when John Horner recommended we should hold a South Valley Angels pitch session at Anaerobe Systems back in 2014. I began working with Mike shortly after that on his fermentation project that eventually became Anaerobe Systems. I learned a lot from Mike on a wide range of subjects from chemistry to soil, fireplaces, Israel, and more things then I can remember at the moment. Mikes quest for knowledge and his desire to share was core to who he was. He will be greatly missed, his contributions have been immense..

I first met Mike scuba diving in Carmel Bay in the early 1970s. A few years later he knocked on our door, reintroduced himself and said he had recently married and invited my wife Gay and I over to dinner to meet his wife Mary, and show us a project he was working on. We accepted and after dinner he took us into his den and showed us a roughly built acrylic box with two hand ports with attached rubber sleeves. A nitrogen tank and regulator with attached tubing was plumbed to the box to displace oxygen in the box. Mike said there were two important innovations here:
First, you could put your hands and arms through the ports and sleeves and evacuate the sleeves around your arms, so your hands were free to handle plates and tubes. No bulky gloves like in other glove boxes. Second, there would now be a large oxygen-free environment where inoculated plates and tubes could efficiently grow anaerobes. I didn't realize it at the time, but Mike had invented a technology that would revolutionize clinical anaerobe microbiology. This was Steve Jobs working in his garage.
Mike went on to learn that not only was it important to grow anaerobes in an oxygen-free environment, but the growth media had to be made in an oxygen-free environment. So Mike used his genius to develop an assembly-line purged of oxygen where large quantities of anaerobic media plates could be made and sealed in airtight envelopes that could be shipped to clinical labs. No other company was able to do this or even knew it was important. By now Mike had a manufacturer for the acrylic anaerobe chamber and a source of anaerobic media. His work had just begun. His mission was now to bring this new technology to the medical world. Mike and his team at Anaerobe Systems conducted hundreds of workshops in hospitals and conferences all over the country to bring the medical community this important new technology, now in hospitals throughout the world.
Because of Mike Cox's innovations, anaerobe infections can now be efficiently identified and treated in most major hospitals in the country. Mike's leadership has helped alleviate suffering and saved the lives of thousands of people worldwide. Because of Mike’s ingenuity and generosity, the world is a better place. Thank you, Mike, you will never be forgotten.

Mike's impact as a connector and inventor was profound. He introduced the Mangels and Morris families together through microbiology and good times, starting in the 1970's, continuing over decades, and along the way connecting my spouse and I together.

Mike invited me as a teenager to work during the summer at Anaerobe Systems. What an inspiration to learn about the anaerobic chamber, media manufacturing and his side projects involving fuels and fermentation. Every time we saw each other over the years he always had something fascinating he couldn't wait to share. His visionary inventions saved countless lives. His was a life well lived with a huge amount of enthusiasm and generosity.

This photo is from 1999 and embodies one of the many essences of Mike: He's prepping for a barbecue at our San Jose house with - of course - some good wine. He's engaged in conversation, likely involving something fascinating.

Mike had an enormous impact on my career. I met him after starting to work at the Minneapolis VA. I learned of the ASA and was able to attend a meeting, where I first met Mike. He was so enthusiastic about the world of anarobes and eager to share his knowledge. His anaerobic glove box and quality media changed the way clinical labs were able to recover anaerobes from specimens that were not seen before. His involvement in writing standards for recovering anaerobes for use in a clinical lab setting was groundbreaking. In my time at the VA, we purchased two glove boxes, and I was able to come to Anaerobe Systems for training. It was great to spend time with Mike and his family each time. His generosity was amazing.
He will be greatly missed! My condolences to Mary, Steve, and Laurie.

Sandy Molik

It was sad news that Dr. Cox has passed. I just wish to participate in the family's grief with sharing a photo with him. I also mention that my first participation at an ASA Congress was sponsored by Anaerobe Systems and we met and talked since that time in the US or at Szeged, Hungary many times. It was a great pleasure for me to have an acquaintance with his friendly and helpful personality
Condolence for the family.

In 2015 Mike and I had known each other for about 7 years. We had a fun relationship, ragging on each other every chance we got. In that year Mike obtained several copies of the book "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" and shared one of them with me. That started me off on a bread-baking spree. One day, while Mike was attending a Leadership meeting at our house, I happened to mention that I made a new loaf and Mike said that he had too and maybe we should have a contest to see which was the best. One of the members at the meeting said, "I'd pay to see that!". And that was the beginning of the Great Bread Bake off at Mike and Mary's house, a fund raiser for Leadership Morgan Hill.

People actually paid to come and sample our loaves and see a demonstration of how we did them. That fund raiser lasted for 3 years and I, well ..., I won the competition each time.

Mike never let me forget that and always maintained that his loaves were better than mine. Happy baking, my old friend!

I first met Mike at the Anaerobe meeting in Manchester UK in 2000, in 2005 I relocated to Oklahoma and attended most Anaerobe meetings since. In 2006 at the Boise meeting we renewed our friendship when Mike asked if his students could sit at my table for the banquet. Over the years I got to know Mike and found what a force of nature he was! His enthusiasm for all things anaerobic was infectious and he always had a new interest with anaerobic processes or renewable energies. At the Philadelphia meeting in 2010 Mike and I spoke at the first and only (!) Biotechnology session and we had fun bouncing off each other.

Anaerobes & Biotechnology: Opportunities for Microbiologists
Chair: Mike Cox
Anaerobes: History, Industry, and the Birth of Biotechnology
Mike Cox, Anaerobe Systems, Morgan Hill, CA
Anaerobes: A Piece in the Puzzle for Alternative Biofuels
Paul Lawson, Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

As many know, Mike was one of the most generous people I have ever known, at all meetings we had dinner with Mike, Mary often with a large group and then back to a bar for drinks (all on his tab!). When Mike wasn’t at a meeting Steve and Lauri have continued the tradition of these dinners where I have met both old and new friends. Like many, I have many fond memories of Mike and will miss him enormously and surely miss his enthusiasm for all things anaerobic.

It’s with great sadness that I receive this news. It’s hard to understate the profound impact Mike has had on my life. From giving me my first job out of college, to helping jump start my software engineering career, to hosting the party where I met my future wife. Mike embodies many impressive and life affirming traits– sheer intellectual brilliance, extraordinary creativity, the ability to connect people who otherwise wouldn’t have met, but what has always impressed me most is his generosity. It is more than altruism, he thrived off giving and drew energy from it. His time, advice, and financial assistance were amply shared. If, as a young striver, you showed ambition and interest he would invest in you and I’m sure that made the difference in many aspirants across the years. Mike, you will be sorely missed but your life philosophy will live on in us.

September 18, 2024

I always thought that our work with anaerobes in the clinical microbiological practice or in the environment keeps us young and active forever. So, I hardly believe that Mike has passed away. I remember him as an excellent scientist, whose interest for anaerobes never decreased and he knew everything, how can we find them even in the most difficult clinical samples. We learned a lot from him not only during the ASA meetings and the anaerobe courses, but letting us to see how really good media for anaerobes can be prepared in Anaerobe Systems. He helped me a lot by being present the international anaerobe courses I organized in Hungary. I experienced his exceptional hospitality and enjoyed several times the days together with his family.
My sincere condolences to his entire family.
Elisabeth Nagy

I remember meeting Prof.Mike Cox at the 2008 Anaerobe Congress in Manchester, UK and in the online congress during the covid period. I would like to extend my condolences to his family and to the Anaerobe Society.

I have learnt a lot from Mike, for example that a brown oxidised apple does not become white again even under anaerobic conditions, or that scientific and technical visions do not have to remain visions; but above all I have learnt from him to give from the heart - he was so generous - and to inspire people; however I won't be as good as him.

I am very, very sad today but grateful for your inspiration, dear Mike.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Georg

I met Mike during sessions at ASA. I t was always a pleasure to discuss with this friendly man with a full of good ideas in technology.

We appreciated his involvement in anaerobic bacteria in collaboration with S. Finegold and D. Citron.

Bye bye Mike

Luc

It is an extreme understatement to say that I wouldn't be where I am today without Mike. He and Mary opened their home to my husband and I for five months when we made the move from San Diego to Morgan Hill, driving us around to search for houses, introducing us to key members of the community, giving us plenty of wine, and of course, regaling us with stories. It was Mike who introduced me to my first freelance gig, which set into motion a series of events leading to an incredibly successful career and happiness. There are so many memories with Mike, but there is one that I think really shows who he was. A few years back I attended the CA branch chapter meeting of the ASM, and Mike and I sat at the table with young students just starting their career in science. One of the students mentioned how they were so honored that WE would choose to sit with THEM and Mike's response was essentially that we were the lucky ones. He was always so supportive of bright young people and did what he could to help them meet their goals. It's hard to believe he's no longer physically among us, but his legacy will live on, that's for sure.

I am very saddened to hear passing of a true scientist. He was a pioneer and an exceptional scientist in the field of Anaerobe and more. He will leave in our memories forever Please accept my heartfelt condolences to your family

I worked with Mike from the time I was a post doc in Sherry Gorbach's lab. Mike was so enthusiastic about his work and had such great and innovative ideas. He was a good friend and someone that you could always count on. His influence on the field of anaerobic microbiology was profound, and he will be greatly missed.

So sad to know this news. May God have him in his kingdom. He was a great scientific person.

I remember Mike since Anaerobe 1992 and on his visit to Argentina in 1998. He honored me by coming to see our lab at Hospital de Pediatria Garrahan in Argentina. We worked many years with the Anaerobic Chamber manufactured by Anaerobe Systems. He was a
very, very nice person, open to anyone who needed his advice.
Our most sincere greetings to his family.

So sorry to hear this sad news. I always loved Mike’s energy and enthusiasm for sharing his considerable knowledge. A good man gone.

I am so sorry to hear this sad news! It’s a huge loss of our field. My deepest condolences to Laurie and the rest of Dr. Cox’s family.

Among the preeminent experts in anaerobic microbiology, Mike pioneered laboratory technology to facilitate the study of anaerobic bacteria, by inventing and patenting the first gloveless anaerobic chamber. He was a founding board member of the Anaerobe Society and helped to financially support the organization. He, along with Diane Citron, conducted workshops at the Anaerobe Congresses, for over 20 years, and supported anaerobic studies at such schools as Santa Clara University. He served on numerous industry subcommittees on anaerobic identification and susceptibility testing and co-authored the CLSI M56-A guideline “Principles and Procedures for Detection of Anaerobes in Clinical Specimens”. He was awarded the Anaerobe Society's Lifetime Achievement Award on 2014.

On behalf of the Anaerobe Society of the Americas, I would like to extend our sincere condolences to his wife Mary, Laurie, and Steve, who continue his legacy in anaerobic bacteriology.

Mike was a visionary with respect to sustainability. Though I didn't understand every concept he enthusiastically chatted about, I was enthralled listening to him about the projects he was working on. His knowledge about anaerobic bacteria was superb and his contributions to that field were unsurpassed. He is already sorely missed.... (Photo Mike Cox with Mary, Ellen Jo B May 15 2024)

Mike and Mary have been gracious hosts for many local campaign events. Mario and I have benefited from and appreciate their hospitality. Mike's willingness and eagerness to mentor young people and offer summer internships has made a difference. He is already greatly missed.