lawyer, politician, b. Eau Claire. He studied law, was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1896, and graduated from Cornell Univ. (LL.B., 1897). From 1897 to 1933 he practiced law in Eau Claire, and from 1933 until his death was senior member of the law firm of Wilcox, Wilcox and Sullivan in that city. Until 1914 he was an instrumental figure in the operation of the Chippewa Valley Light and Power Co., which later became the Northern States Power Co. of Wisconsin. A Republican, Wilcox was state senator (1917-1920), and in the senate served as chairman of the joint committee on reconstruction of the legislature (1918). Although originally a Progressive, Wilcox split with La Follette on the issue of the war. He was twice candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, and in 1925 was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator. Wilcox was president (1925-1926) of the Wisconsin Bar Association, and a member of the advisory board of Marquette Univ. R. S. Maxwell, E. L. Philipp . . . (Madison, 1959); Who's Who in Amer., 22 (1942); Wis. Reports, 249 (1947), pp. xxxix-xliii.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Roy P. Wilcox Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]