Bird Sim Coler
Bird Sim Coler | |
|---|---|
| File:Bird Sim Coler.jpg Coler in 1908 | |
| 23rd New York City Comptroller | |
| In office January 1, 1898 – December 31, 1901 | |
| Preceded by | Ashbel P. Fitch (pre-consolidation) |
| Succeeded by | Edward M. Grout |
| 4th Borough President of Brooklyn | |
| In office January 1, 1906 – December 31, 1909 | |
| Preceded by | Martin W. Littleton |
| Succeeded by | Alfred E. Steers |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 9, 1867 Urbana, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | June 12, 1941 (aged 73) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic Municipal Ownership League |
| Spouse | Emily Moore Coler |
| Children | Eugene Bird Coler |
Bird Sim Coler (October 9, 1867 Urbana, Illinois – June 12, 1941 Brooklyn, New York) was an American stockbroker and politician from Brooklyn, New York. He served as the first New York City Comptroller after the city's 1898 consolidation and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New York in 1902. He narrowly lost the election to Governor Benjamin Odell Jr.
Biography
[edit | edit source]Personal
[edit | edit source]Coler was born on October 9, 1868, in Urbana, Illinois, the son of William N. Coler and Cordelia Sim.[1] The elder Coler established a banking house after the Civil War and brought his family to Brooklyn.[2]
The younger Coler was educated at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.[2]
Coler and Emily Moore, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Moore, were married on October 1, 1888. He died on June 12, 1941, in Brooklyn, and she died on August 23, 1941, in the same hospital. They had a son, Eugene Bird Coler.[3][4]
Career
[edit | edit source]He established himself as a stockbroker in New York City, became prominent in municipal and State politics, and was first Comptroller of Greater New York, from 1897 to 1901. In 1902, he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New York, but lost to Benjamin B. Odell Jr., by a small plurality in spite of his enormous lead in New York City.
In 1905 he was elected president of the Borough of Brooklyn, on the Municipal Ownership ticket. For his four-year term, Coler appointed Charles Frederic Adams, a Single-Tax advocate who had endorsed Coler's earlier run for governor,[5] to be the Borough Secretary.[6] In 1918, Coler ran unsuccessfully on the Democratic ticket for New York State Comptroller.
He was the author of Commercialism in Politics, Two and Two Make Four, He Made Them Twain, and other sociological works.[2]
In 1927, Coler, then the commissioner for public welfare in New York City, investigated "The Santa Claus Association" of John Duval Gluck. The association became embroiled in controversy as a result of dubious fundraising and accounting practices.[7]
Legacy
[edit | edit source]Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital on Roosevelt Island bears his name.
References
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- ^ “Controller Coler [Endorsed] for Governor by New Tax League”, in Brooklyn Eagle, Aug 19, 1900, page 9
- ^ The Brooklyn Citizen, Nov 14, 1905, page 2.
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External links
[edit | edit source]Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
- Bird Sim Coler at Find a GraveLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- The Political Graveyard entry
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- Politicians from Brooklyn
- New York City comptrollers
- Brooklyn borough presidents
- Candidates in the 1904 United States presidential election
- American political writers
- People from Champaign, Illinois
- 1867 births
- 1941 deaths
- Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
- American stockbrokers
- 19th-century American politicians
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American male writers
- American male non-fiction writers
- 20th-century New York (state) politicians
- New York (state) politician stubs
- American political writer stubs