Norman Arthur Coulter

1920 - 2008

Dr. Norman Arthur Coulter, 88, of Greenville, N.C., passed away on Friday, October 24, 2008. A graveside service will be conducted 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, 2008, at Greenwood Cemetery in Bedford, Va. An additional memorial service is being planned in Chapel Hill at a later date.
Dr. Coulter was born in Atlanta, Ga., on January 9, 1920, to the late Norman Arthur and Carabelle Clark Coulter. Norman enjoyed spending time listening to classical music and trying his hand at amateur composition. After receiving his bachelor of science in mathematics and electrical engineering from Virginia Tech in 1941, he went to Harvard Medical School where he received his doctor of medicine in 1950. From 1950 to 1952, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University. A teacher by nature, he joined the faculty at the Ohio State University School of Medicine in 1952. In 1965, the Coulter family moved to North Carolina, where Dr. Coulter began teaching at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, and his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Coulter, began teaching at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health. There he became professor emeritus in 1990.
As a co-founder of the UNC Biomedical Engineering and Mathematics curriculum, now a department, he served as chairman from 1969 to 1982. Dr. Coulter was a member and valued contributor to many professional organizations, including the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Medical Association, and the Physicians for Social Responsibility.
An accomplished author, he wrote the books, Synergetics: An Adventure in Human Development and Tracking: A New Way of Thinking. He also published many articles in "CHANGE: The Journal of the Synergetic Society."

As a member of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, he served on the board of directors from 1987 to 1993 and was president of the North Carolina chapter from 1983 to 1987. Traveling to the Soviet Union in 1985, 1987, and 1988 as a delegate of Physicians for Social Responsibility, he helped organize a sister city committee between Chapel Hill/Carrboro and Saratov, Russia. In 1993, he helped organize a conference on the prevention of violence, and he helped plan a school violence prevention program, which began in 1995. In 1992, Dr. Coulter was awarded the Peacemaker award, and in 1987 he received the Broad Street Pump Award.
Although he had many professional accomplishments, Dr. Coulter's greatest joy was spending time with his family. Together, they traveled extensively, enjoyed playing sports, and he was always looking for ways to make them laugh. A beloved husband, father, and grandfather, he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Dr. Elizabeth J. Coulter; and brother, Judge Jack Coulter.
He is survived by his son, Robert J. Coulter, of Greenville, N.C.; grandson, Jim Coulter and wife, Candice, of Greenville; granddaughter, Mary Anna Coulter, of New York, N.Y.; sister-in-law, Jeanne Coulter, of Roanoke, Va.; nephews, David Coulter, of Cary, N.C., and Philip Coulter, of Roanoke, Va.; and niece, Kathy Temple, of Roanoke, Va.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Biomedical Engineering Department at UNC Chapel Hill for the Coulter Fund for Parkinson's, 152 MacNider Hall, Campus Box 7575, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599-7575. Arrangements by Tharp Funeral Home.