Daniel Coleman

Daniel Eugene Coleman, aka: "Danny", "Dan" and "Dan The Man"; was born on February 23, 1950, in Tampa, Florida, to the late James Earnest and Eddie B. Coleman. He was baptized at the Holsey Temple CME Church, Tampa, Florida, and later joined the Unitarian Universalist Church in Boston, MA.

Dan attended elementary and junior high school in Tampa and then attended Middleton Senior High School from 1965 through 1967. There, the late Helen Wilson recognized Dan's academic excellence and encouraged him to apply to the University of South Florida's Upward Bound Program. While at Upward Bound, Dan met and was later mentored by the late Phyllis Busansky. In 1967, he matriculated to the Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, for his senior year of high school. After graduating from Philips Academy, Dan was accepted at Tufts University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History. He later earned a certificate from the MIT Sloan School of Management Advanced Management Program.

After graduating from Tufts, Dan went to work at the First National Bank of Boston, where he started in the retail branches and then graduated from the bank's Loan Officer Development Program, becoming one of the few black officers in the bank. He went on to build a long and successful career at the bank, ultimately helping to create and then managing a $100-million private equity fund focused on investing in women- and minority-owned businesses and businesses in low- and moderate-income areas, creating value for the bank while also helping to create wealth and generate economic development in historically disadvantaged communities.

Throughout his long career, Dan contributed his wise guidance to dozens of entrepreneurs and their companies and served as a mentor to many young men and women. As a result, Dan's contributions are immeasurable, as are the esteem and the affection his friends and colleagues hold for him. Words cannot express how much Dan meant to so many; his infectious enthusiasm, his keen intellect, his broad and deep knowledge, and his impish sense of humor were a constant delight to all who knew him. His colleagues will cherish the memory of his remarkable life, and of their time together, always.

Dan's sister has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to the scholarship fund that his friends have created in Dan's honor at Tufts, his beloved alma mater: the Daniel E. Coleman, A'73, Scholarship Fund. Tufts University always held a central place in Dan's great heart, going back to his undergraduate days as a student organizer (and a trouble-maker, as he would say) when Dan helped lead protests by Tufts' Afro-American Society, and Afro-American groups from nearby colleges, against the racist hiring practices at the construction company the university had engaged to build a new dormitory - practices that were common at the time. Those protests succeeded in securing the university's commitment to 20% minority employment on the site. In creating this scholarship fund in Dan's honor, it is our hope that it
will help to provide to future generations the same opportunity that Dan found: the opportunity that a first class education offers to advance the potential in talented young people from similar backgrounds.

After Dan's retirement, he returned to Tampa where he joined the Saturday Morning Breakfast Group. He also served as a Board member of the Allen Temple Neighborhood Corporation and many other grassroots organizations. Dan was a devoted fan of the New England Patroits football team. Mr. Daniel Eugene Coleman, went home to his Heavenly Father on Saturday, May 16, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.

Dan was preceded by his father, James Earnest Coleman, Sr.; mother, Eddie B. Coleman; brother, James Earnest Coleman, Jr.; aunts, Netta Anderson, Elizabeth Mitchell, Beatrice Welch, Mozell (Bernice) Mitchell and Gracie Anglin; uncles, Arthur Coleman and Ernest Kendrick; paternal grandparents, James Patrick and Mozell Coleman; maternal grandparents, Hugh and Indiana (Anna) Westbrook.

Dan is survived by his loving and faithful sister, Betty Sue Coleman; brother, Anthony Stanley Coleman; two aunts, Doris Coleman Williams and Mary Alice Coleman Lundy; cousins, Alalia Mack and family, Mikail Najiaalim a.k.a. Kenny Anderson and family, Michelle Welch and family, Evelyn Coleman and family, Elsie Hicks and family, Angus Anderson, Dr. William Mitchell and family, Pat Mitchell and family, Ron Mitchell and family, Joseph Correa and family, Debra Everett and family, Pam Powell and family, Diana Singleton and family, Alalia Lundy and family, Laphan Williams and family, Al, Reggie, Darryl Williams and family; grandchildren, Shannon, Dylan, Scotty and Rachel; godchildren, Sarah and Clare Busansky; his extended family members, Sheldon, Alexander, Edward and Rebecca Busansky, Dr. Daniel and Joan Rutenburg, Regina and Andy Rockefeller, Dr. Huey Mays, Rena Wright, Tom McNamara and Herb Tyson; his devoted friends and colleagues, Maurice Coleman, Francisco DeJesus, Grady Hedgepeth, Tod Hibbard, Jerry Johnson, Jennifer Schmelter, LeJuano Varnell, Carlotta Holder, Julia Gast, Liz Case, Noel Hill, Stephanie Lemons, Wayne Threatt, Holly Koda, George Louis and the Moragne and Keeton families and a host of other sorrowing cousins, relatives and friends.

There will be a viewing on Friday  May 29, 2020 at Wilson Funeral Home, 3000 N. 29th Street, Tampa, Florida from 3:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Do to the current restrictions from the CDC, we are asking that you use the visitation as an opportunity to pay your final respect. For your convenience and safety, we have extended our visitation hours.