The University of Arizona has announced a $20 million gift to its School of Music from Alan and Daveen Fox in honor of Alan's father, master teacher and legendary French horn player Fred Fox.

The gift includes $4 million to create three endowed chairs in the School of Music; $2 million to establish the Fox Family Scholarship Fund, which will provide scholarships annually for up to three undergraduate students majoring in music and three graduate students whose studies emphasize brass instrument performance; and $1.25 million to create an endowed fund to support, in perpetuity, the Fred Fox Graduate Wind Quintet, which Alan and Daveen Fox established in 2012. In recognition of the gift, which will count toward the university's $1.5 billion capital campaign, the school will be renamed the Fred Fox School of Music.

Fox, who celebrated his hundredth birthday last July, performed as a soloist with the National Symphony, the Minneapolis Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; worked on projects at Paramount and RKO studios; and has served on the faculty at California State University, Northridge; CSU Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; and the Music Academy of the West. Considered a legend in his field, he was honored with the Punto Award at the 2011 International Horn Symposium. UA associate professor of music Daniel Katzen is a former student of his.

"I believe that learning an instrument in school teaches kids to use their whole mind and requires total concentration," said Fox. "Once music enters a child's life in this way, for the rest of their life they will always know how to use their full mind at any task, no matter what they are doing. The end result will be that they will be more effective at whatever they choose to do. I am very happy to have my name associated with such a wonderful music school and look forward to great things from the students enrolled there."