Lewis M. Coco ’63

Lew, a business entrepreneur, died Jan. 21, 2025, in a hospital near his home in Georgetown, Texas.

A native of Pottsville, Pa., Lew came to Princeton from Muhlenberg Township High School in Reading, Pa. He majored in psychology, was vice president and social chairman of Terrace Club, and roomed in Walker basement with the rest of the C.L.A.N. (Coco, Laden, Adelman, and Nesbitt).

Lew received a certificate in management development from Harvard Business School in 1976. His career included a lengthy tenure at J.P. Stevens & Co., and culminated in his final position as CEO and owner of Julius Koch USA, based in New Bedford, Mass. While living in New Bedford, he chaired the board of the New Bedford Whaling Museum and he was inducted into the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame in 1999. Lew’s success story was featured in an April 1996 article in Princeton Alumni Weekly titled “Six Princetonians Make Fresh Career Starts in Middle Age.”

Lew loved to play golf and poker, listen to opera, and take part in outdoor sports activities. He enjoyed cooking for friends and family. For many years he maintained his pilot’s license, crisscrossing the Northeast in his small prop planes with his wife and family. He was an avid supporter of Princeton sports teams.

Lew is survived by his wife of 28 years, Nancy; daughter Elizabeth Bryda and her husband Karl; son Michael’87 and his wife Liz ’87; and son Stephen; stepdaughter Emily Hodgson and her husband Jeff; stepson Will Hodgson and his wife Claudia; seven grandchildren; brother Charles ’66; and former spouse Alice Coco.