Annette Wilbois Coleman

Annette W Coleman, Stephen T. Olney Professor Emerita of Natural History at Brown University, died on July 10, 2023 at the age of 89 in Providence, RI. Annette was preceded in death by her husband John R Coleman and is survived by her 3 children (Alan, Benjamin and Suzanne), two grandchildren (Helen and Owen) and numerous nieces and nephews.

John and Annette were extraordinary partners - they were world travelers working and exploring across 6 continents. Both were involved in activities to improve equity for all people, and raised their children to believe the same. They frequently shared ideas and observations on their research and each improved the other's work. Also, the two of them had a healthy professional competition and a very loving partnership - they made a terrific pair. They raised their children to love learning, and to be self-reliant and socially responsible.

Annette was raised in Des Moines, Iowa with some time in New York City. She obtained her BS in botany from Barnard College in 1955. She received her Ph.D in phycology, botany and genetics from Indiana University in 1958 with time also spent at Wood Hole, MA. She met John at Indiana while he worked on his Masters degree. They then both went to Johns Hopkins - John for his Ph.D, and Annette for her postdoctoral fellowship.

She was a remarkable intellect and fought numerous gender related employment battles during her career - and she did so with grace and humility. Due to "anti-nepotism" rules (generally used to avoid hiring women), Annette could not be hired by University of Connecticut (in 1962) nor by Brown University (starting in 1963). She worked as a "Research Assistant" running labs for several years until Title IX and a lawsuit forced Brown to change their rules. She was finally hired as an Assistant Professor in 1972. She became a full professor finally in 1984. She served as Chair of the Section of Cell Biology at Brown from 1981 to 1983 and 1984 to 1985.

She was an outstanding teacher as recognized with several "best teacher" awards. She taught many undergraduate and graduate students both at Brown University and at other institutions where she was an invited scholar. At Brown University, she taught a wide range of courses ranging from birds to bacteria including her very popular "Freshman Seminar". She would start each of her seminar classes with her goal for the class: "I want to give you a feeling for a different life form other than yourself". She would challenge students to "keep your eyes open and see the full wonders of every day. You will miss all this if you are not looking."

Annette always kept her eyes open, often spotting interesting things and occasionally wandering off into fields. Her children often watched, dismayed, as Annette stopped the caron vacation to retrieve a baggie from her pocket to collect muck out of random puddles or tidal pools. When Anne Fausto Sterling, a fellow professor at Brown, announced she would belecturing at Johns Hopkins, Annette asked Anne to gather some muck from a pond into which Annette had deposited some algae years earlier during her PostDoc work to see if the algae strains were still present and if they had experienced any changes.

As an extension of her "in class" teaching, Annette was a research mentor of numerous graduate and undergraduate students. On most days, she could be found in her laboratory, in her tied-dyed laboratory coat, working side-by-side with students, opening their eyes and developing their skills as researcher biologists.

One of her most significant contributions to cell biology was her work with colleagues at the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm Sweden in which they were able to show that a particular fluorochrome (DAPI) complexed with DNA quantitatively. Using fluorescent microscopy, the amount of light emitted from the excited complex could be measured and determine the amount of DNA. Using these techniques she and her co-workers could measure DNA levels in virus particles, chloroplasts and mitochondria.

Her research was recognized internationally and she won numerous honors and awards including the Herrman Botanical Prize, the Provasoli Award (twice), the Darbaker Award, a Guggenhiem Fellowship and several additional awards. Her research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Annette was a star in the field of algal cell biology as evidenced by her invitation by the National Academy of Science to co-chair the first scientific delegation to China, shortly after the "opening" of China to the West. Her many invitations to work with international scholars led her to be a Visiting Fellow at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden; an instructor at Cornell University Shoals Marine Lab; a Visiting Guggenheim Fellow at the CSIRO Plant Research Lab in Adelaide, Australia; a Visiting Fellow a the Institute for Basic Biology in Okazaki, Japan; a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica in Wuhan, PRC; a Fellow at the Smithsonian Institute; an instructor at University of Washington Friday Harbor Lab; an instructor at the Universidad de Conception in Chile; a Visiting Foreign Expert at Jinan University in Guangzho, China; and a graduate tutor at Wake Forest University, NC.

Annettte collaborated with many other scientists during her career. She had a long professional partnership with Dr. Lynda Goff of the University of California, together publishing dozens of papers on algal-related science. Their paper on red algal parasites inserting nuclei into hosts was covered in an article in Science Magazine in October, 1984. Her papers made the cover of the Journal of Cell Biology twice (which she pointed out to John when he boasted that he had finally had a paper appear on the same journal's cover).

Annette traveled the world during her lifetime, enjoying its wonders everywhere. In 1955 after graduating from Barnard, Annette and her mother, Agnes D Wilbois, set out to go to Madagascar. There was no tourism to Madagascar at that time so there were no means of getting to the island nation as a "tourist". Agnes and Annette made their way to South Africa and walked the docks at the port until they found a freighter willing to take on a couple passengers. They spent weeks in Madagascar, residing with missionaries and exploring the culture, the flora and the fauna. In retirement she continued to travel with her husband, combining her passion for the natural world with plain old fun like snorkeling reefs.

She was admired and loved and she will be missed.

Per her wishes, there will not be a formal memorial service. An informal service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers please consider encouraging a child to explore the wonders of the natural world, planting a tree or donating to the Audubon Society.