Fiddler’s Green
ncgma
We, at the National Maritime Historical Society, along with our board of trustees, are deeply saddened by the passing of our longtime overseer James J. Coleman Jr. He was an inspiring leader and visionary, whose support of the US Coast Guard and leadership in the efforts to establish the National Coast Guard Museum earned him the 2014 NMHS Distinguished Service Award. A native of New Orleans, James J. Coleman Jr. attended Princeton University, graduating with a BA in 1963. He studied law at Oxford University, and earned a JD degree from Tulane University in 1968. Mr. Coleman served as chairman of International-Matex Tank Terminals (IMTT), a family-run company engaged in the handling, storing, and transshipment of bulk liquids. Mr. Coleman was also managing partner of the New Orleans law firm Coleman, Johnson, Artigues & Jurisich, LLC, and president of Coleman Development Company. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1986, and was recognized with the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s President’s Medal for Lifetime Achievement in 2010 and the US Coast Guard Spirit of Hope Award in 2012. In 2015, he received the first Alexander Hamilton Award from the National Coast Guard Museum Association for his leadership, vision, volunteerism, and support. Mr. Coleman had a lifelong interest in sailing, yachting, and fishing, and served on the boards of the US Navy League–New Orleans and the International Yacht Restoration School in NMHS Overseer James J. Coleman Jr. (left) receiving the 2014 NMHS Distinguished Newport, Rhode Island. He was a longtime mem- Service Award from NMHS Trustee and National Coast Guard Museum Association ber of the New York Yacht Club, the Southern Vice Chair Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., USCG (Ret.). Yacht Club in New Orleans, the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, and the Royal Nassau Sail Club in the Bahamas. He started sailing in a 5.5 meter Luders boat in New Orleans, and one of his last projects was restoring Blue Dolphin, a fifty-year-old Beale’s Island lobster boat. His fascination with the maritime industry began at the age of seven; his grandfather, a Crescent City river pilot, took him along on piloting jobs. Recalls Mr. Coleman: “[He] would take me with him on his trips down to Pilot Town at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and we would sleep there. [From there] he piloted the ships for ninety miles to New Orleans. I heard all of the stories how it was bringing ships up the river before radar.” Mr. Coleman dedicated himself to honoring the US Coast Guard, and served on the Coast Guard Foundation board for more than twenty years. As chairman of the National Coast Guard Museum Association, founded in 2001 to raise funds for and oversee the construction of a museum honoring the US Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut, he laid the groundwork for the national museum. For more information, please visit the website of the future National Coast Guard Museum at www.coastguardmuseum.org. Mr. Coleman is survived by his wife, Mary, and son, Jamie. The National Maritime Historical Society expresses deepest sympathies to the entire Coleman Family.
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photo by allison lucas
James J. Coleman Jr. (1941–2019)
Artist’s rendering of the future National Coast Guard Museum in New London, Connecticut, home of the US Coast Guard Academy and homeport of the Academy’s training ship, USCG Barque Eagle. SEA HISTORY 167, SUMMER 2019