Dr. George W. Cox Jr., retired professor of secondary education at Towson State University, died April 12 of heart failure at the Collington Episcopal Life Care Community in Mitchellville.

Dr. Cox, who was 78 and moved from Wiltondale to the retirement community 2 1/2 years ago, retired in 1979 after joining the Towson faculty in 1963. He taught for three years

after his official retirement.

A memorial service will be held May 11 at 1 p.m. in the Calvary Baptist Church, 120 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Towson, to which he belonged.

Before joining the Towson faculty, he was principal of high schools in Falls Church, Newport News, Stony Creek and Altavista, all in Virginia. He began his teaching career in 1933 in a one-room school house in Richardsville in Culpeper County, Va., and the schools he headed in Stony Creek and Altavista included all 12 grades.

In 1939 and 1940, he taught at the University of Virginia.

Born in Norfolk, Va., he was a graduate of the University of Richmond and earned his master's degree and doctorate at the University of Virginia.

He is survived by his wife, the former Martha Ann Kramer; three daughters, Bonnie Cox of Bethesda, Patricia Hardesty of Washington and Betty Cox of Waterford, Va; a sister, Frances Cox Smith of St. Petersburg, Fla.; and seven grandchildren.