By Allen Edmonds
PECULIAR – Associate Circuit Judge and former Cass County Presiding Commissioner Jeff Cox died Friday night after experiencing a medical emergency in the car he was driving on Interstate 49 near Peculiar, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Cox, 48, was northbound on Interstate 49 approximately four miles south of Peculiar when he was stricken, causing his car to travel off the roadway and strike a tree just before 7 p.m., according to the report. He was transported to Belton Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 8:04 p.m. The incident was investigated by troopers from the Highway Patrol and deputies from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.
Cox was elected to the 17th Circuit bench in 2018 following six years as Presiding Commissioner beginning in 2012. During that term, he led the effort to complete a curb-and-gutter installation and widening effort on School Road from Hubach Hill Road south of Raymore to 203rd Street near the Raymore-Peculiar school complex.
He had previously served as a Raymore City Council member from 2007-2012. He was named Cass County Republican of the Year in 2011.
A Raymore resident, Cox was a 1993 graduate of Raymore-Peculiar High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy from the University of Missouri in 1997, and his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2003.
He also has served on the Little Blue Valley Sewer District Board of Trustees and the Missouri Child Abuse and Neglect Review Board.