Mr. Kenton Leslie Cobb

August 7, 1944 - October 8, 2021

Kenton Leslie Cobb, 77, of Durham, NC passed away on October 8, 2021, after a long struggle with dementia. Kenton was born to Carlton and Vermell Cobb of Chesapeake, VA in 1944, and grew up in the tidewater area with his parents and sister, Janis, all of whom have predeceased him. Kenton attended Churchland High School where he was a varsity baseball and basketball player, a member of the Tidewater Scholastic Achievement Team, a National Honor Society member, and class valedictorian, among many other achievements. Following high school, Kenton attended the University of Virginia on a full scholarship, where he majored in history, joined the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and - continuing his academic achievements - was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then went on to earn a law degree at the University of Virginia law school and was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1969, after moving there to take his first job as an attorney with a prestigious Wilmington law firm. Kenton worked as an attorney throughout his career, including many years as part of the legal department at R.J. Reynolds Industries and, in more recent years, as General Counsel to Sideshow Collectibles. But Kenton was always so much more than his work. He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather, an avid traveler, a lover of cooking and good food, a daily walker, and a man capable of building or fixing pretty much anything he put his mind to. Surviving Kenton are his loving wife of 36 years, Marion Jervay; his children, Jeff Cobb (Celisa Steele), Johanna Cobb, and Ramona Jervay; his grandchildren, Cy and Selah Steele-Cobb; his niece Amy Ewing Byrum (Bud Byrum), and her children Camryn and Rylee Byrum. A private celebration of Kenton's life will be held on Saturday, October 23, which will be followed by a second, online celebration at some point that will include family and friends who are scattered across the world. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to either the University of Virginia - https://giving.virginia.edu/where-to-give - or Duke’s OLLI – Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. For OLLI contributions, please make checks out to “Duke University” with “OLLI at Duke” on the memo line and “In memory of Kenton Cobb.” Additional details about OLLI can be found at: http://learnmore.duke.edu/OLLI.