Alvin Coleman was born in November 1930 in Pamplico, South Carolina, the son of Elizabeth Munn Coleman and the late Alvin Atwell Coleman. He is survived by his mother, his wife, Nelda; two children, Alvin Atwell Coleman III and Mary Alice Coleman Couick; two stepchildren, Laura Spears Knoblock and Elizabeth Elaine Spears; a grandson, Campbell Couick and a granddaughter, Marchant Couick; a brother, William Liston Coleman of Pamplico, and two sisters, Elizabeth Ann Coleman Bates of Columbia and Harriet Stokes Cox of Pamplico.
Mr. Coleman obtained his bachelors degree from the Citadel in 1951, and his LL.B. from the University of South Carolina Law School in 1956. Thereafter, he was with the U.S. Department of Labor in Birmingham, Alabama, for a time until he returned to South Carolina, where he practiced for a number of years with the Florence law firm of Wright, Scott, Blackwell and Powers. In 1983, Mr. Coleman along with Boone Aiken and John Chase formed the Florence law firm of Coleman, Aiken and Chase where he practiced until his death.
Mr. Coleman served his country as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean Conflict and was stationed in Japan. Alvin Coleman was a man who was scrupulously honest, absolutely committed to fight vigorously for his clients’ rights and who considered it his moral obligation to properly defend them, a man absolutely committed to his family although he did not wear these convictions on his sleeve.