James Newton Coker, age 100, of Hockessin, Delaware passed away on Tuesday, August 9, 2022.
Jim was born to Newton and Joanna Coker in Birmingham, AL. He attended Woodlawn High School there. In 1943 he graduated from Birmingham Southern College magna cum laude with a BS degree majoring in both chemistry and mathematics. He attended the University of Illinois, graduating in 1950 with MS and PhD degrees in organic chemistry. He was a member of Phi Betta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Theta Chi Delta, Delta Phi Alpha and Phi Lambda Epsilon honor societies. During World War II, after graduating from New York University Meteorology School, Jim served as a weather officer with the Fifth Air Force in Italy. In 1950 he joined the DuPont Company Electrochemicals Department at Niagara Fall, NY and was subsequently transferred in 1956 to the Experimental Station in Wilmington, DE. In 1988, he retired from the Polymer Products Department after 39 years of service as a research Chemist. He worked in the area of organic synthesis, catalysis, and monomer/polymer synthesis and development. He had twenty-nine patents and technical publications.
Jim was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church. After his retirement from DuPont, Jim served for fourteen years as a c volunteer on the Art Committee at the Christiana Care, Inc. He was a member of the Textile Museum and the International Hajji Baba Rug Society, both of Washington, DC, the Delaware Art Museum, Winterthur Museum, the Brandywine River Museum, Hagley Museum, the Historical Society of Delaware, the Seaford Historical Society, the American Chemical Society and the American Legion. He was also a member of Brandywine Lodge #33.
Jim was interested in music, textiles, art, photography, oil painting, tapestry work and gardening. He loved traveling with his dear wife Betty, particularly in New England and the western United States. In the early 1950’s he became interested in oriental rugs and textiles, which led to a long period of study and collecting. Based on the advice of colleagues and Hajji Baba, he tried to match each acquisition of a textile with at least one publication, and over a period of time assembled a very large and comprehensive library dealing with a wide range of textiles. He was an ardent supporter of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and he and his wife subscribed to the Saturday evening concerts for forty years. His interest in photography began when he resided in upper New York State; and after that his camera was never too far away, particularly when he and his wife were traveling abroad and in the United States. And when it came to gardening, he never lost interest in planting “something”, particularly if it was a new kind of holly.
Jim is predeceased by Elizabeth Chipman Coker, his dearly beloved wife Betty, after 47 years of marriage. He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Louise and Denward A. Davis of Birmingham, AL.
He would like to express his deep appreciation to the staff at Cokesbury Village for the loving care he and his wife received during the period they lived there.
Interment will be at the Lower Brandywine Cemetery, Greenville, Delaware.
In lieu of flowers contributions and be made to the Elizabeth Chipman and James Newton Coker Foundation o/c Wells Fargo, 3801 Kennett Pike, P.O. Box 3740, Greenville, Delaware 19807. The foundation is in honor of Betty’s father, Dr. I. Lewis Chipman Sr., a pioneer in the study and treatment of infectious diseases, and funds medical research dealing with infectious diseases at the University of Pennsylvania.
For online condolences, please visit Chandlerfuneralhome.com.
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