D.L. Cox

  • On Jan. 14, 1970, Donald L. Cox, field marshal for the Black Panthers, appeared at a fundraiser in Leonard Bernstein's Park Avenue apartment. The New York Philharmonic conductor welcomed Cox and 80 others to raise legal-defense funds for the New York Panther 21, a group that had been indicted on charges of plotting to kill New York City police officers and bomb several locations. The bizarre meeting, immortalized by Tom Wolfe in his article "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's," gave Cox brief notoriety and helped achieve an acquittal for the accused Panthers. For a time, Cox, who died Feb. 19 at 74, was prominent in black radical politics. But that fame was cut short when he fled to Algeria, home of the Black Panther international headquarters, in the early '70s after being charged with conspiracy in the murder of a Panther turned informant. He eventually moved to France, where he died in exile.