"She was very open-minded and even-handed in these discussions, as she was with all minorities. She listened," he said.
A member of the Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Synagogue in Leeds, and Harrogate Hebrew Congregation, Mr Simmonds is the father of Sky News presenter Samantha Simmonds, who announced Mrs Cox's death on air last Thursday afternoon.
"How very ironic that this heartbreaking news should come to me in this way," Mr Simmonds said. "Samantha said she found the announcing of this heinous act one of the most difficult things she had ever had to do."
Another of Mr Simmonds' business centres is a few hundred yards from where Mrs Cox was attacked.
He said: "One of my clients heard the shots and he said he will never forget the sound. There are a lot of those stories. It's gut-wrenching."
