Duke Flags Lowered: Former Trustee, Fuqua Dean Rex Adams Dies at Age 84

Rex Adams, outside the Fuqua School of Business
Among many years of service to Duke, Rex Adams served five years as dean of the Fuqua School of Business. Photo courtesy University Archives.

Duke alumnus and trustee emeritus Rex D. Adams, an international business leader who served five years as dean of the Fuqua School of Business, died Sept. 1 at his home in Fearrington Village from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 84.

Born in a coal mining camp in West Virginia on March 9, 1940, at the age of nine Adams lost his father, a coal miner and deputy sheriff. His mother, the first in her family to graduate from high school, became a bookkeeper at the local cemetery to support him and his sister.

Adams worked hard at school and athletics to have a chance to experience the world beyond Oak Hill, W.V. That grit and determination led to many college recruiting offers to play football. He chose Duke.

Attending Duke University on an athletic scholarship, Adams received several honors and graduated magna cum laude in 1962 with a bachelor of arts in political science and English. While at Duke, he met Ellen Cates, who would become his wife of 61 years. Adams played on the Duke football team that defeated Arkansas in the 1961 Cotton Bowl.

In 1962, he was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and studied at Merton College, Oxford University. 

Following graduation, Adams spent more than 30 years of his career at Mobil Corporation, holding many international and domestic management and executive level positions, including executive vice president of administration.

In 1996, Adams returned to Duke to serve as dean of the Fuqua School of Business. After stepping down in 2001, he continued on Fuqua’s faculty as a professor of the practice of management until 2004. He also served on the Fuqua Board of Visitors for more than 20 years.

Rex Adams with Fuqua students.
Rex Adams with Fuqua students.

Mary Frances Luce, current interim Fuqua dean and Robert A. Ingram Professor, said Adams’ career at Fuqua and Duke was entrenched in service.

“As dean, Rex emphasized faculty governance and leadership, and he was a strong voice for the student experience, arguing that Fuqua should feel like home to every member of the student body,” Luce said. “He spent as much of his time as he could with students, and there was much mutual admiration between Rex and them.”

Part of his legacy at Fuqua is the Fox Student Center, which was conceived and designed under his leadership, Luce said. Under his leadership, the school more than doubled its endowment and expanded its innovative use of technology and distance learning in management education. He raised the school’s national ranking, improved student diversity and developed new programs.

His many philanthropic efforts have benefited Fuqua students. Rex and Ellen Adams established two funds, one supporting full-time MBA students and the second for students in any Fuqua program.

In addition, the Adamses have supported Duke Libraries, Duke Gardens, Iron Dukes and other university programs.

Adams’ service to Duke went beyond Fuqua. As a member of the university Board of Trustees, he advised university officers on policy, financial and strategic decisions.

After leaving Fuqua, he served as chairman of INVESCO, PLC, a global asset company headquartered in Atlanta. 

Adams served as advisor, trustee and officer for numerous non-profit organizations. He was on the board of Alleghany Corporation and a member of the Corporation of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He was a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources and a former trustee of Virginia Union University. 

In 1991, he was elected to a term as chair of the Board of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The board is responsible for governing and setting policy for the national organization and its affiliates.

Adams is survived by his wife, Ellen Cates Adams; his three children, Laura Adams, Nick Adams, and Sarah Delehanty; his son-in-law Patrick Delehanty; and his six grandchildren, Annie, Lilly, Courtney and Riley Delehanty, and Natasha and Zachary Partnoy. His sister, Kay Adams Simmons, died before him.

Donations in his honor can be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Rex Adams Scholarship Fund at the Fuqua School of Business.