Jeremy Coleman

Jeremy J Coleman was born the youngest child of four in Rochester, NY to John R and Elizabeth Coleman.  He was born just six months prior to Pearl Harbor, and during the war while his father was away making maps for the invasion of Normandy, he and his siblings, along with clumps of cousins, would spend summers at 9,500 feet in Ward, CO in a tiny cabin.  Their days were spent among the old mine shafts & mill ruins, and across the Colorado high-country.

After the war, in Rochester, Jeremy became an Eagle Scout at the age of 13, which began a lifelong association with the Boy Scouts and their mission of teaching self-reliance, skills, and how to be a top-grade citizen.  His father was a Scoutmaster, and his two sons and one of his grandsons are also Eagle Scouts.  Jeremy was a Den Leader, Cubmaster, and Committee Chair.  His involvement in the Scouting program helped both his kids succeed and brought continuity to a family that moved house more than 20 times.

In high school, Jeremy’s other passion was football.  Not a large man, he played above his weight as Defensive End during his high school years than continued to enjoy the sport during the NFL season.  If it was Sunday, you knew he would be watching the games (especially the Broncos) and texting play-by-play with his youngest son.  There was never a pass interference call thrown (or missed) without a comment passing between them over their cell phones.

A man is extraordinarily fortunate in this world if he finds one real love.  Jeremy found two. While in high school, Jeremy fell in love with Judy.  For 50 years, they were inseparable.  They were loving parents and cared deeply for their two sons, and their two grandkids.  Sadly, they were separated in 2012 in a fatal car crash.

Yet, true love struck twice.  At the age of 74, Jeremy married Virginia (Ginny) Wood Brown, also a widow, in Durango in 2015 and they launched a second life together.  Ginny is a Deacon at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  After their first date over a McDonald’s senior coffee, they joyfully brought unique life experiences to their marriage; one of respect, adventure, and mutual devotion.  After six years together, they were moving to Traverse City, Michigan, to start a new adventure.

Jeremy was a highly educated man, receiving his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Princeton University, Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, and a Doctor of Business Administration from George Washington University.  And, throughout his career he wore every color collar you can – starting on oil rigs in the 1960s as a roughneck; building highways during the great Federal road expansion of that time; moving to Washington, D.C. as an administrator for the Federal Bureau of Transportation; and eventually changing career’s altogether to become a Professor of Business at Austin College and Fort Lewis College.

During his years building highways, he worked on dozens of projects across the West, moving every few months.  Interesting projects included the entrance roads to Dinosaur and Capulin Mountain National Monuments, and the Flaming Gorge Scenic Highway.  For the Bureau of Transportation, he would be awarded a Meritorious Service Medal.

And, after a 20-year career as an academic, Jeremy retired from Fort Lewis as a Full Professor who had spent time as Acting Dean and Assistant Dean of the School of Business.  He was named a Professor Emeritus in 2002.  Along with the hundreds of well-educated students whose lives and career’s his teaching would launch, one of his most noteworthy achievements was the launch of the International Business program at FLC.  He and Judy took students to China and Europe to study and made exchange connections with schools around the world.  He taught in Bulgaria shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and he grew to be an internationalist, bringing that understanding to the secluded southwest corner of Colorado. He was responsible for launching FLC’s International Business Program and founded the “Jeremy & Judith Coleman Study Abroad Scholarship Fund.”

Once bitten by the international bug, he couldn’t give it up, after retirement he eventually spent nearly half of every year in Europe, Mexico, and Hawaii.  The RV he owned and kept near Amsterdam allowed him easy access to every part of Europe; as well as the former Soviet Union and the Baltics.  In the early days, he would tell tension-filled stories of bribing Soviet-bloc border guards with books in English to be allowed through checkpoints.

Ever an active man, even at 79 years old, Jeremy fell from a tall ladder and struck his head.  He was preparing for his move to Michigan and lower altitudes.  He never recovered from the injuries sustained and died on July 17, 2020 in Grand Junction, having been flown there from his home in Durango.

Jeremy is survived by his beloved wife Ginny; his two kids Sean and Prescott; his two grandchildren Connor and Oliver; his stepchildren Alison and Katie; his step grandchildren Wes, David and Jack; and his three siblings Liz, John, and Kathy.

Memorial services are undetermined, given the pandemic, but are likely to take place in Durango, Colorado.