Fort Wayne Youtheatre’s legendary Harvey Cocks Jr. died Thursday morning. He was 96. He served the organization for over forty years as executive director and later as artist-in-residence.
Cocks was born on April 3, 1925 in Glen Cove, Long Island. In 1958, he married Jean Hansen, and the pair had two children together, Ann and Christopher. His father, Harvey Sr., was a promoter for Paramount Pictures who later managed the Emboyd Theatre, now the Embassy, and once owned Quimby Village, including the Clyde Theatre.
Early exposure to performances by Al Jolson and Bing Crosby and a family connected to show business led Hervey Cocks Jr. to Broadway, where he performed for more than three years. Touring, radio, and television roles would follow. His family had previously moved to Fort Wayne twice and when his father later passed away, Jean convinced Harvey it would be better to raise their children in Fort Wayne than New York.
When a call in 1977 led Cocks to the Fort Wayne Youtheatre, he would go on to stay in the director role until 2010. According to the organization, Cocks taught thousands of students in over 800 acting classes. He also directed hundreds of plays and musicals, many of which he wrote himself. Fort Wayne Youtheatre Executive Director Todd Espeland reflected on the impact Cocks made in the community, “Harvey was the heart and soul of Youtheatre for over 40 years, passionately believing in and promoting the social and educational value of theatre arts in the lives of young people…They say success is achieved by standing on the shoulders of giants. Harvey Cocks was truly one of those giants. Youtheatre owes so much of who we are to him. He will be missed.”
WBOI’s Julia Meek interviewed Cocks twice in 2014. The first conversation, in which Cocks reflected on his life in theater, was in June. The second conversation aired in December of 2014, in the time leading up to the Fort Wayne Youtheatre’s 80th anniversary performance of Cocks’s adaptation of “The Steadfast Tin Soldier,” which was the company’s very first performance. Cocks was joined by then-Youtheatre Director Leslie Hormann.
