Some people dream of retiring to Kauai to put their feet up and do nothing. Others show up and want to change things. Ric Cox retired to Kauai and asked how he could help. In just six years the transplant from Illinois became one of the go-to guys on the island, something of a local hero, a man who could walk onto just about any school campus and be greeted with hugs and happy tears from students and teachers so grateful for his service and the support of the organization he helped to start.

Cox died unexpectedly Thursday at the age of 72.

He was the unpaid, full-time CEO of Aloha Angels, a nonprofit organization dedicated to investing private resources into Kauai’s public schools. Through his leadership the organization raised $1 million to buy school supplies, pay for field trips and support after-school clubs at Kauai’s elementary schools. There were days Cox was delivering glue sticks to a kindergarten class and days he was persuading wealthy Kauai landowners to donate to the cause. He did it all.

Richard Lee Cox, born Sept. 30, 1944, was raised in Fairfield, Ill. He graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1966 and went on to graduate school in journalism at Columbia University. In the late 1960s he served in the Army as a reporter for Stars and Stripes. He was a senior staff editor at Reader’s Digest from 1967 to 1986 and editor-in-chief at the Peale Center in New York from 1986 to 1999. From 2001 to 2011 he lived in Chicago, where he started a business called Chicago Condos Online.

In February 2011 Cox moved to Kauai. As he would tell the story, he got bored at his new home when it rained for three weeks straight, and when he complained to his sister, she told him to join the Rotary Club and make some friends. He did, and as a member of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, he helped bring books to local elementary schools. He soon became a volunteer tutor as well.

Cox was moved by what a big impact a gift of notebooks and pencils could have on a school. He started thinking about how he might build on that. Along with the Rotary, Cox helped found Aloha Angels, an organization that buys classroom supplies, funds after-school clubs and supports teacher training on Kauai. In 2016 Aloha Angels gave $700 to every teacher in 13 of the island’s elementary schools to use at their discretion for supplies and field trips.

When Cox talked about supporting public education, though, raising money was secondary to fostering relationships. He believed in the power of mentoring, in letting kids know that someone cared about them and wanted the best for them.

“A teacher once told us that there are some kids who go through the entire day and nobody asks them, ‘How are you?’” he said. He thought about this often as he went about his Angels work. He went to schools in person to deliver checks and good news or to ask what he could do to help them succeed. “The most important thing you can do is sit beside a child, look them in the eye and listen to them,” he said.

Cox is survived by two sisters, Kay Marilyn Vertrees and Judy Gruner, who live in Illinois. Friends on Kauai are planning a celebration-of-life service for him in June, with details to come. The family requests that any memorial gifts be made to Aloha Angels. Checks should be made out to Aloha Angels and mailed to Hawaii Community Foundation, 827 Fort Street Mall, Honolulu 96813-4317.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.