Bird Sim Coler

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 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

Personal

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]

File:Brooklyn politician Bird S. Coler and wife Emily Moore sketched by Marguerite Martyn July 1908.jpg
Bird S. Coler and Emily Coler as sketched by artist-reporter Marguerite Martyn at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, 1908

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

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. In 1918, he 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.[5] Template:Clearleft

Legacy

Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital on Roosevelt Island bears his name.

References

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External links

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Template:S-endTemplate:Brooklyn Borough PresidentTemplate:New York City ComptrollerTemplate:Authority controlTemplate:AsboxTemplate:US-political-writer-stub
Party political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Democratic nominee for Governor of New York
1902 Template:S-ttl/check
Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Democratic nominee for New York State Comptroller
1918 Template:S-ttl/check
Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check New York City Comptroller
1898–1901 Template:S-ttl/check
Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check Borough President of Brooklyn
1906–1909 Template:S-ttl/check
Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
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