Matthew James Cole

Matthew James Cole..."Matt", age 54, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family and friends, worshipping God. He was a faithful and active member of Faith Promise Church, from leadership team to group leader to playing bass and singing on stage. Matt graduated from Vanderbilt with his undergraduate degree in Materials Science Engineering and a minor in musical theater, and from Kellogg Business School, Northwestern, with Master's degrees in both Manufacturing and Business. He worked for a number of fantastic companies, the most recent as an Executive at Littelfuse.
He thoroughly enjoyed traveling, showing his family the amazing places he's been with work. He appreciated good food and drink, meaning his children knew very early in life how to order a proper steak. The entire family learned to love salmon, since Matt fly fished with his dad throughout North America almost every year from age 12. Most of all, he loved our Lord, Jesus Christ. He said he was humbled that God chose him to go through this, all in order to show others how good and faithful God really is. His purpose in life was to share his faith, love others as Jesus loves us, and disciple people. Matt was adamant that in order to get through anything hard in life, don't wait to start going to God for strength when you need it. Go to Him now. Believing Christ died for us is just the beginning. Matt wanted everyone to understand the true value of having a lifelong relationship with God, growing closer to Him every single day.
Matt is survived by his loving wife of 30 years, Lisa; children, whom he adored, Nathan, Annie, Charlotte, and future daughter in law Savana; his parents, Tom and Vicky Cole, mother-in-law, Carol Laws; sister, Georgia Jones and husband Michael; nieces, Ava, Mary Scarlett, and Hadley; aunts and uncles, Nancy and Ralph Cole, Laura and Stu Irwin, and Paul and Jeanne Schleich; and cousins (more like brothers) Jeff Cole (wife Chimene, children Gabriel, Reese, and Jordan) and Terry Cole (wife Joy, children Rachel, Nico, Dom, and Lauren).
Family will receive friends 4-5:30 pm, July 1st, Faith Promise Church, Pellissippi Campus (10740 Faith Promise Lane, Knoxville, TN 37931) with a worship service to Celebrate the Life of Matt to immediately follow at 5:30pm.
In lieu of flowers, please consider memorials to the following organizations that Matt held in high regard and near to his heart. Faith Promise Church www.faithpromise.org/give Men of Valor www.men-of-valor.org KARM ministry www.karm.org FIG Solutions www.figsolutions.org