Harley Knox

Knox, Harley Harley Knox died Oct. 25, at 5 p.m., after a five-month battle with bone cancer. He was 68. He is survived by his wife, Donna, daughter, Victoria and sons, Bryan and Aaron, as well as four grandchildren. A memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. on Nov. 2 at the Moreno Valley Recreation Center, 14075 Frederick St. Moreno Valley. Mr. Knox was a farmer, inventor, entrepreneur and real estate developer who was influential in he industrial development of land around March Air Reserve Base. He helped lead the effort to incorporate Moreno Valley and was chairman of the city's planning commission. He has been active in numerous economic development groups, such as the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, the Riverside County Coordinating Committee, past president and founding member of The Valley Group, chairman of the Industrial Development Subcommittee of the Riverside County Building Industry Association and member of the Western Riverside County Council of Governments Infrastructure Financing Committee. He also was active in community service. He served as chairman of the board of directors of the Riverside Community College Foundation and was chairman of the college's scholarship committee where he helped raise $1 million endowed scholarship in the committee's first year. He also served as chairman of the college's Art Committee. He was member of the Riverside Community Hospital Foundation, director of the Moreno Valley YMCA steering committee, member of the chancellor's round table forum for worldwide affairs at UC Riverside, director of the Riverside County General Hospital Foundation. An avid boater, Mr. Knox was appointed by former Gov. Pete Wilson as commissioner of the California Boating and Waterways Commission. He was also appointed by the late Congressman Sonny Bono as a member of the selection committee for appointments to the U.S. Military Academies. Mr. Knox was born Oct. 7, 1937, the oldest of four children. At age 2, he and his family migrated from Oklahoma along Route 66 to the San Gabriel Valley, then a rural valley changing into a suburb of Los Angeles. Mr. Knox began his career at age 12 when after WWII, demand from farmers and gardeners prompted a need for fertilizer. For a fee, Mr. Knox would clean chicken coups and then sell the fertilizer to large farms and gardeners. He soon employed neighborhood kids and had a prosperous business. With the popularity of Dichondra lawns in front of an increasing number of ranch-style homes, Mr. Knox saw an opportunity. With the help of his family, he began harvesting the Knox front yard and selling flats of Dichondra. The popularity of the grass continued, so Mr. Knox persuaded neighbors to let him buy portions of their lawns for resale. By the age of 20, he was selling Dichondra across Southern California and the family was buying land for farming the grass. A second business was born when he then began developing farming equipment to collect and process Dichondra seed. By the 1950's, Mr. Knox was president of Knox Seed Company, Inc. and moved operations to farmland adjacent to what is now March Air Reserve Base. The company expanded into producing seed for grain crops, turf grass and sod. The company was sold in 1976. With the sale of the seed business, Mr. Knox focused on developing farming tolls and was president of Knox Manufacturing Co. of Moreno Valley from 1977 to 1986. The firm developed high-speed produce harvesters and holds patents that became industry standards. In 1983 he founded the land development and consulting firm Harley Knox & Associates, which develops industrial projects, assists with land-use regulation and attaining government entitlements. Mr. Knox was partner in March Global Port, an industrial development on 400 acres on the south side of March Air Reserve Base. The project lists Philips Electronics and DHL as tenants. He also developed the 50-acre site for GE Energy for an 800-megawatt electricity generation plant in Romoland. "Harley Knox saw the Inland Empire as a major economic center for the Pacific Rim as clearly as the sun coming up in the morning", said A1010