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Sandra S. Coleman

Date of Death: October 5, 2023

Date of Birth: March 20, 1943

Biography:

Topsham- Sandra S Coleman, 80, from Topsham, Maine, passed away on Thursday, October 5, 2023, at Thornton Hall in Brunswick, Maine. Sandra was born on March 20, 1943, to J Whitfield and Dorothy Sloan, in Summit, New Jersey.

As an Air Force Brat, Sandra, or Sandie as she preferred to be called, lived in several states and in France, during her school years, attending many different schools, graduating High School in Miami, Florida. She then became a member of the first class at Florida Presbyterian College (now Eckerd College), where she was a political science major. While at FPC she met and married William (Flick) Coleman, a member of the third class at the College. They were married on August 11, 1965.

Upon graduating from FPC Sandie and Flick headed off to graduate school at Indiana University and while Flick was getting his PhD in Chemistry, Sandie worked in the library and earned a master’s degree in library science. After a year in Tucson where Flick was a postdoc, they both moved to Albuquerque, where they joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico, Sandie was in the Law Library initially then moved to the main college library, in the meantime earning an MBA from New Mexico. In 1982 Sandie took a position as the Deputy Librarian at Harvard Law School. A decade later she became the Administrative Dean of that school.

Outside of her work, Sandie enjoyed all aspects of politics, becoming one of the founding members of Emily’s List, devoted to increasing the role of women in government. She loved her nieces and nephews, travelling, playing cards, cats, eating out, and, perhaps most of all reading, particularly classic mystery novels and political biographies.

Sandie was the oldest of the four “Sloan Sisters”. She is survived by Dian Nussbaum of Greensboro, North Carolina, and Marcia Snelson of Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Her other sister, Gail Patterson, of Las Vegas, Nevada, preceded Sandie in death. Her husband, Flick, is still living.