James S. Coles (1952–1967)

James Stacy Coles was president of Bowdoin College from 1952 to 1967. He was born in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, on June 3, 1913, to Edwin Stacy Coles, publisher of the local newspaper, and Emavieve Rose Coles. Coles earned degrees from Mansfield State Teachers College (1934) and Columbia University (1936; with advanced degrees in 1939 and 1941). After earning his Ph.D. from Columbia, Coles became Instructor of Chemistry at College of the City of New York (1936-1941); Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Middlebury College (1941-1943); and Research Supervisor at Underwater Explosives Laboratory, Oceanographic Institute, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (1943-1946). In 1946 he took a position as Assistant, then Associate Professor of Chemistry, and Acting Dean at Brown University. He held this post until 1952, when he became the president of Bowdoin College.

Under Coles's leadership, the College's science department modernized, programs for gifted students and low-income students were implemented, and an independent studies program began. Coles's presidency also witnessed a major building program, which included construction of Coles Tower, Wentworth Hall and Chamberlain Hall (1964).

Coles was chairman of the Maine Higher Education Advisory Committee (1965-1967), which helped establish the University of Maine System. He also co-authored Physical Principles of Chemistry (1964) with R.H. Cole. In 1967, Coles resigned the presidency of Bowdoin to become president of The Research Corporation in New York City. He retired from The Research Corporation in 1982, but remained as chairman of its executive committee until 1984.

Coles was married in 1938 to Martha Reed and they had three children; Ann Stacy Coles, James Reed Coles, and Christopher Coles. After that marriage ended in 1980, Coles was married in 1981 to Cecily Cannan Selby. James Stacy Coles died in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on June 13, 1996.

Painting credit: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine Commissioned Gift of John W. Frost, Class of 1904