Fox’s Pizza Den founder dies, remembered for giving nature

Corporate leadership sometimes has a reputation for being cold and robotic. James Fox Jr. made sure he had the opposite impact through Fox’s Pizza Den.

Fox, who founded his eponymous national pizza chain 51 years ago, knew the name of every franchise owner of the chain’s more than 200 restaurants, said former Seward franchisee Tom Wynkoop.

“He was a very unique corporate owner,” said Wynkoop, of Ligonier. “He had more of a family value than a corporate value.”

Fox, of Murrysville, died Saturday, May 21, 2022, after battling complications from a March 2021 car crash. He was 74.

“Murrysville has lost a very humble and highly respected community leader,” Murrysville Mayor Regis Synan said in a statement.

Those who knew Fox remember him as an honest businessman who put family and community first.

Fox began to learn the ropes of the pizza business in high school, when he worked at pizza shops in Monroeville and Oakmont. After graduation, he tried out banking before he returned to Italian-American cuisine.

In 1971, Fox opened his first restaurant in Pitcairn. His first pizza oven was made from parts he found in a junkyard.

Two years later, Fox opened two more locations in the Pittsburgh area. The businessman incorporated Fox’s Pizza Den in 1974.

As more locations spread throughout the region, the restaurant became known for its food and delivery services. The chain now has more than 215 locations in 23 states, according to James Fox III, Fox’s son who stepped up to run the national chain in 2021 after his father’s accident.

Fox III described his father as a “great dad.” Fox is also survived by his wife, Joyce Gross, granddaughter Lola Fox and sister Judy Crosby.

To the businessman, family extended beyond blood relatives, however. Fox III said his father considered his franchisees and customers to be “family.”

“He didn’t even really look at (Fox’s Pizza Den) as a business,” Fox III said. “It was his dream and passion to be involved.”

The elder Fox might not have viewed the chain as a business, but he was successful at running it. In 2002, Fox was named Pennsylvania’s Small Business Person of the Year. Fox would do “whatever he could” to ensure each Fox’s Pizza restaurant succeeded, Wynkoop said.

“No matter how bad it got, he always found some type of way to give you encouragement,” Wynkoop said. “… He was one of the best men I ever knew in my life.”

As president and CEO, Fox acted as a role model to many franchisees, including Matt Fryer. Fryer, who operates four restaurants in the region, described Fox as a “second father” who taught his employees to value kindness and respect.

Fox loved pizza, but he was also known for his compassionate nature. In 2014, after the mass stabbing at Franklin Regional High School, Fox’s Pizza Den partnered with three other local businesses to raise money to support the victims.

Additionally, Fox would regularly buy lunches for corporate employees and pay for strangers’ meals.

“He was community-first,” Fryer, from Buffalo Township, said. “If you went to an ice cream stand and there were 50 kids there, he was the type of guy to buy those 50 kids ice cream.”

That giving spirit will live on even after Fox’s death. His son said his father wanted everybody who attended his funeral to “have ice cream and be happy.”

True to his wishes, complementary ice cream will be offered at the service on Thursday.

“He loved to eat and he loved to watch people eat,” his son said. “He was an honest, caring person.”

Calling hours are from 6 to 9 p.m. today and 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Gene Corl Funeral Chapel and Cremation Services, 4335 Northern Pike, Monroeville.

Fox’s funeral will be 10:30 a.n. Thursday in the funeral home chapel.