Benjamin Davis Williams Wilcox

1944 - 2025

Benjamin Davis Williams Wilcox
01/10/1944 - 04/19/2025
Benjamin Davis Williams Wilcox died peacefully at home on April 19, 2025, at age 81, after a long bout with Alzheimer's Disease.
Born on January 10, 1944, in Houston, Texas, Ben was the son of George Jarvis Geer Wilcox and Mary Haven Sloan Wilcox. Ben spent his childhood in Lake Charles, Louisiana before graduating from The Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts and St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He received a B.A. from Yale University in 1967. Upon returning to Houston, and after serving in the United States Marine Corps Reserves, Ben began a successful fifty-year career in the marine and energy insurance industry, ultimately holding executive management roles at Wray, Couch & Elder, Marsh McLennan, Adams & Porter, Inc., J.H. Blades & Co., Energy Insurance International, Aon Corporation, and Houston Casualty Company. Among other notable accomplishments, he co-founded Capital Risk LLC, the successor of which was acquired by Alliant Insurance Services, Inc.
Ben lived a robust and adventurous life defined by dedication to family, friends and ranging interests that included art, photography, classical music, fly fishing, hunting, shooting, tennis and marathoning. He was considered by many to be a fierce backgammon opponent, and his remarkable acuity in bocce was undiminished by dementia. His epic frustration with the game of golf remains unresolved.
Ben was an avid supporter of various organizations in Houston, including The Menil Collection and Chinquapin Preparatory School, where he was an active member of the Board of Trustees for 11 years.
Ben is survived by his wife of nearly fifty-seven years, Marion Wallace Wilcox; his son, McClelland Wallace Wilcox, daughter-in-law, Augusta Carter Meyer Wilcox, and grandsons, Benjamin Palmer Wilcox and Heyward Wallace Wilcox, of New York City; and son, Benjamin Geer Wilcox, daughter-in-law, Angela Cavendish Wilcox, grandson, Horatio Cavendish Wilcox, and granddaughter, Winifred Geer Wilcox, of Houston. He is survived also by his brother, George Jarvis Geer Wilcox, and spouse, Coke Anne Murchison Wilcox, of Westport, CT; and his sister, Mary Haven Wilcox Foster, and spouse, James Woodbridge Foster, of Easton, MD.
The family is immensely grateful to Ben's amazing team of caregivers for their devoted and extraordinary care in the last years of Ben's life.
A memorial event will be held later in 2025.
The family gratefully requests that those interested in making a donation in Ben's memory do so to The Menil Collection (1533 Sul Ross, Houston, TX 77006, or online: https://www.menil.org/support) or to Chinquapin Preparatory School (2615 E. Wallisville Road, Highlands, TX 77562, or online: https://chinquapin.org/donate).
Ben is remembered for his generous and considerate spirit, his wonderful sense of humor and his love of family and friends. He will be greatly missed.