Jonathan Matthew Cox

Jonathan left us unexpectedly on Friday, March 6 at the age of 42 in Santa Barbara. He will be immensely missed by his family and the many friends who love him. Jonathan was gentle, honest, caring, very talented, and steadfastly principled, with a sharp sense of humor. Born in Marin County, CA, he moved to Santa Barbara at the age of 13. He quickly made many friends here and formed a popular band (Circus Life) as lead singer and songwriter. Music played a big part throughout his life as he continued to write, sing, and self-record. During the late 1990s one of his recordings was picked up by several popular TV shows such as Friends and NYPD Blue. After attending Santa Barbara City College, he graduated from San Francisco State in audio engineering and returned to work in Santa Barbara as Audio Engineer for The :30 Airborne Company where he was lauded for “his extraordinary attention to detail, his technical know-how and creative input.” In 1999 and in 2000 he won silver and gold PROMAX Awards for excellence in audio editing of movie shorts for Time-Warner. In 2003 he moved to the Bay Area and worked as Manager of the Audio/Visual Department at Copia, Robert Mondavi’s Wine and Food Museum in Napa. This role included providing the audio/visual expertise for large outdoor concerts, movies, and conferences. Because of his talent he was quickly moved into developing online video content for the museum’s wine, culinary, and garden education teams. In 2005, Jonathan married his love Elissa Meihsner. The 2008 recession unfortunately put an end to Copia, and Jonathan started working as a Freelance Multimedia Producer. During the past six years he worked with the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) in planning, developing, and recording its online education programs and materials such as medical DVDs and podcasts. He also filmed and produced online advertising for many Bay Area enterprises. After nine years of marriage he and Elissa parted ways, and this past year Jonathan moved back to Santa Barbara. Here, he contributed his skills to Rockshop Academy, building within it a wonderful recording studio and teaching piano lessons to children, which he loved very much.

Jonathan is survived by his father Tom Cox and mother Sarah Kanastab, his stepmom Deborah Cox and stepdad John Kanastab, and his two sisters, Jamie (Cox) File and Gabrielle Kanastab, as well as his brother-in-law Jason File, step-grandmother Ghita Ginberg, and ex-wife Elissa.

Please join us to celebrate Jonathan’s life on Saturday, March 28th at 2pm at Godric Grove in Elings Park in Santa Barbara. Dress casual. In case of rain, the memorial will be held at Rockshop Academy, 1109 de La Vina St., Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. In honor of the place he loved and gave so much energy and talent to this year, and for his love of seeing kids learn to play music, memorial donations can be made to Rockshop Academy.