Dr. Winston Barrington Cox (September 13, 1936-October 20, 2023)

Proud Pan-African, Doctor of Political Science, Winston is survived by his wife, Ivone Gomes Alves, his two children (Shaun and Darren) from his second wife, Eleanor (nee Potter); his two children (Winston and Fanshen) from his first wife, Trudy (nee Kofford); his grandchildren, Bryson and Payten (Darren and Daughter-In Law, Tasheka (nee Burke)), Jaida and Solomon (Winston and Daughter-In-Law, Laina (nee Jones)), and Son-in-Law, Vinnie DeRamus (Fanshen). 

Winston was the grandson of Joseph Cox and Mildred Smallhorn Cox, son of Cynthia Cox and George Livermore, brother of Lloyd and Pearl Pink. He was born in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, but grew up in the busy capital city of Kingston. Winston was a proud Kingstonian and attributed much of his core identity and values to growing up in the quintessential Jamaican “yard”. In fact, he devoted some of his professional career and personal energy towards the pursuit of models of communal living that mirrored his own experience and that could counter what he saw as the wasteful and divisive capitalist models of the western world. Winston also spent many joyful summers in the country villages of Upton and Lodge, St. Ann’s Bay, cradled by a sprawling extended family (cousins Hoilett, Cox). 

Winston attended Kingston Western Technical High School, completed his undergraduate studies at California State Polytechnical College (Cal Poly) and then graduate school at the University of Oregon, where he earned a Master of Political Science (’64) and Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (’68).

Winston returned to Cal Poly to teach, and then to Jamaica to teach at the University of the West Indies. He then settled in Washington, DC and began teaching at Federal City College (later University of DC) and finally to teach political science at Howard University. Winston was a fan and admirer of DC’s Mayor-for-Life, Marion Barry, who selflessly advocated for under-resourced communities. You could often find Winston proudly wearing his “Mayor Barry” shirt around the house or in the community. 

Winston’s doctoral research into communal societies led him to travel the globe (Algeria, the Caribbean, Egypt, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Libya, Kenya, Tanzania) in search of models of communal society. His thesis was titled: Economic Life, Socio-Cultural Integration, and Political Orientations. Oregon Dept of Political Science, 1968.

Winston was an avid runner and logged many hundreds of miles around his beloved path at Lincoln Park in Northeast, DC. He was also a voracious reader. He started every day reading and critiquing the Washington Post. Later in the evening and into the morning hours, he’d continue reading and writing on his favorite topics: Black liberation, anti-colonialism and anti-racism, alternative and communal societies. He was a huge Washington football fan who lived a few blocks away from RFK stadium and loved coach Joe Gibbs. He went to school with John Madden (Oregon and Cal Poly) and he and Washington General Manager, Bobby Beatherd (Cal Poly) were friends. 

Later in life, Winston worked at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Sustainable Communities and Infrastructure Branch where he was a valued source of wisdom and routinely advocated for policies that would benefit “the people.” 

You can find Winston on a walk or jog around his beloved Lincoln Park, at any Black liberation movement event, or while watching the Washington NFL team probably losing. Many thanks to the staff of the Knollwood Life Plan Community in NW DC, which became an extension of Winston’s family and home in his final years. They, along with VITAS Healthcare provided his family with invaluable support and a dignified final leg of his life’s race. 

In place of flowers or cards, please consider donating to any of these organizations which embody Winston’s commitment to supporting working class people and families: Sasha Bruce Youthwork, Mary’s Center, Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.