Gerald Knox

GERALD (JERRY) THOMAS KNOX

Cedar Rapids

Gerald (Jerry) Thomas Knox, 76, of Fort Myers, Fla., formerly of Cedar Rapids, died Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015. Funeral service: 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at Cedar Memorial Chapel of Memories. Family will greet friends from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, before the service.

He is survived by his wife, Karen; brother, Gene (Joyce); uncle, Keith Wicks (Pat); daughter, Laura Dawson (Mike); his son, Jeff (Karen); his son, Bryan (Chris); grandchildren, Sarah Ott, Ryan Dawson, Michael Nemer, Sydney Knox, Sean Knox, Mathew Knox, Cael Knox, Lauren Knox and Katie Knox; and four great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas J. and Frances (Wicks) Knox; and a brother, James (Jim) Knox.

Born May 31, 1939, in Preston, Minn., his family moved to Waukon, Iowa, where he enjoyed his teenage years and graduated from St. Patrick's High School. After he graduated high school, he moved to Cedar Rapids and worked for the Square D Company and then moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he met his wife, Karen, and started his family. In Ohio, he started a long and successful career as a business owner.

The family moved back to Cedar Rapids in 1970. Along with his brother, Gene, and uncle, Keith, they opened Best Rental Centers. With an uncanny ability to develop talent in his employees, he grew the company to six stores and also co-founded Foxx High Reach in Davenport. After retirement, he took his life-long love of airplanes and started a company refurbishing and selling Lear jets.

Jerry and Karen divorced in 1989 but found love again and remarried on Oct. 25, 2014.

From humble beginnings in his beloved Allamakee County, Iowa, to his successful career as a business owner he was grateful to the people who helped him along the way and mentored him in his career. Jerry tried to help others in the same way. His proudest moments came when his employees, former employees or children found success. Jerry was truly a champion of the underdog. His greatest talent was getting people to believe in themselves and to remove their self-imposed limits.

Jerry was a quiet supporter of many causes in Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers, Fla., including Big Brothers Big Sisters, The Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation, Four Oaks, The ARC of East Central Iowa and the American Cancer Society.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to any of the above mentioned organizations.

Please share a memory of Jerry at www.cedar

memorial.com under obituaries.

Friendly with a great sense of humor, generous, hardworking, optimistic, humble, loving father and husband, he set a great example of how life should be lived and will be greatly missed by his family and friends.