When Rusty Greene started thinking about running for office in 2021, one option was definitely off the table.
He wouldn’t dream of running against Charlie Box.
“Charlie did such a good job,” Greene said. “… He was somebody in the community everyone looked up to.”
Box decided not to run for another term as Ward 3 Columbus city councilman that year, opening the door for Greene, now serving his first term in the role, to run instead. Before he threw his name in the race, he got the lay of the land from the man who had represented the ward for 12 years.
“The first person I called was Charlie,” he said.
Box, 84, passed away Saturday, leaving behind a legacy in business, nonprofit leadership and community service.
Born Sept. 19, 1940, in Morgan City, Box moved to Columbus from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as a teenager, becoming a multi-sport athlete at Lee High School before starring in football at East Mississippi Community College.
He served with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam and was a respected businessman and volunteer coach for youth sports for two decades. He became executive director for the Frank P. Phillips YMCA in 1996, where he worked 13 years before retiring. While at The Y, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science for Mississippi University for Women.
Box first won election to the city council in 2009 and served three terms.
“He touched a lot of lives in the community,” Greene said.
Among those is District 37 State Rep. Andy Boyd, who succeeded Box as YMCA director in 2009 and served 10 years in the position.
“Charlie Box taught me how to swim when I was 5 years old,” Boyd said. “It was at Columbus Country Club, not at the YMCA. … I knew him all my life.”
Boyd was working in insurance, his first “big boy job” out of college, when Box started talking to him about coming to lead the YMCA.
Taking the job was a leap of faith Boyd is grateful he made.
“The Y was the hardest thing I ever did and the best thing I ever did. I’m glad he talked me into it,” Boyd said. “… (Box would) come by and check on me to make sure everything was OK. I would never hesitate to call him, and he was always there to help if I needed him.”
On the city council, Box was “a man of his word,” former Mayor Robert Smith said. He also described Box as a man of character, dignity, integrity and strong Christian values.
“It was a pleasure to work with Councilman Box,” Smith said. “He was a good listener and he always wanted what was in the best interests of his constituents and the citizens.”
Box is survived by his wife, Kay; sister, Mary Jo King of Waveland; brother, William Box of Jackson; two sons, Chuck of Austin, Texas, and Mark of Columbus; and five grandchildren. He was a deacon, elder and Sunday school teacher at First Christian Church.
Visitation is 11 a.m. Wednesday at the church, with funeral services at 1 p.m. A private family graveside service will follow at Friendship Cemetery.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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