James J. Coleman Jr. ’63

Jimmy, a classmate with few parallels as industrialist, developer, attorney, philanthropist, and patron of the arts, died March 21, 2019, in his New Orleans home. He was retired chairman of International-Matex Tank Terminals, which grew from one to 19 terminals in North America.

At Princeton he majored in history, rowed crew four years, ate at Cottage, was president of Orange Key, and roomed with Allison, Jack Black, Jack Carter, Claverie, Joe Frelinghuysen, MacRae, Sexton, and John Williams. After college he studied at Oxford and Tulane Law, spent 40 years in practice with his father, and became managing partner of Coleman, Johnson, Artigues & Brown. 

A man of charm, wisdom, and vision, he developed downtown hotels and office buildings, including the Windsor Court Hotel. He was the British government’s honorary consul in Louisiana for 44 years, a benefactor of art museums in New Orleans and Newport, R.I., where also he had a home, and worked to create what will become the National Coast Guard Museum in New London, Conn.

The class sends its best wishes to his wife of 34 years, Mary “Minnie”; son Jamie; granddaughter Jane-Owen; and siblings Thomas, Peter, and Dian Winingder. Jimmy’s first wife, Carol, passed away in 1979.