Martin J. Coleman

Wayland – Mr. Martin J. Coleman, Jr., of Wayland, formerly of Weston and Waltham, died Sunday, January 23, 2011 at MetroWest Medical Center in Natick. He was 88.

Martin was born in Waltham on April 7, 1922, the youngest of five children born to the late Martin J. and Elizabeth F. (McCaul) Coleman. He was raised in Waltham and had been a resident before moving with his family to Weston in 1966. He moved to Wayland nine years ago.

He was a 1940 graduate of Waltham High School where he was a baseball standout on the pitcher’s mound and at the plate. After that Martin enrolled at Boston College graduating early, in 1943, in order to join the United States Navy. He spent 28 months in the Pacific serving as a radar officer and was discharged as a lieutenant in July, 1946.

Right after his discharge Martin joined the family real estate firm, Coleman & Sons, founded by his father in 1910. His family was instrumental in shaping the evolving real estate profession in the Boston area and in helping returning GI’s and their families find housing in the Waltham area. In 1949 Martin turned his professional attention from the brokerage end of the business to the area of real estate valuation and formed Coleman & Sons Appraisal Group. He was often consulted on the valuation of complex properties and became an expert in the field for litigation purposes. He remained active in the business until his recent retirement.

In the 1950’s he chaired the local American Red Cross chapter and that began a lifetime of volunteer service and philanthropy in the Waltham area. In 1951 Martin joined the Board of Trustees at Waltham Hospital where he served at various times as chairman of the board and of the executive committee as well as serving on the hospital’s building committee. He was active with the hospital board for forty-seven years.

Martin also served on the board of directors at the Waltham Boys & Girls Club and at Regis College in Weston and on the parish councils of Saint Julia’s Church in Weston and at Saint Zepherin’s Church in Wayland. He was a past president and longtime member of the Weston Golf Club and had also been a member at Oyster Harbors Golf Club in Osterville and the Hatherly Golf Club in Scituate. He had also been a former member of the Clover Club and the Algonquin Club, both in Boston.

He was a member and director of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and belonged to the National Board of Realtors, the Massachusetts Board of Real Estate Appraisers and the Society of Real Estate Appraisers now known as The Appraisal Institute. He had also been a director of the former Sterling Bank and Waltham Savings Bank in Waltham.

His beloved wife of 62 years, Joan C. (Kerwin) Coleman, died in August, 2007.

Martin leaves his children, Martin J. Coleman III and his wife, Pamela, of Waltham, Jeanie C. May and her husband, Richard MacLean, Judy C. Johnson and her husband, Charles, all of Natick and Robert M. Coleman and his wife, Janet, of Sudbury; his sister, Helen M. Stanton of Needham; 8 grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Martin was also the father of the late Nancy J. Coleman and a brother of the late George A. Coleman, Elizabeth Tully and Robert L. Coleman.

Family and friends will honor and remember Martin’s life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Julia’s Church, 374 Boston Post Road, Weston where his Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Burial will follow in Linwood Cemetery, Weston.

Memorial donations may be made to The Center for Arts in Natick, 14 Summer Street, Natick, MA 01760.