Raphael M. Coel, civil-rights activist, dies at 85
RAPHAEL McKINLEY Coel, a civil-rights leader who worked in many of the crusades for racial justice in the Philadelphia of the 1960s, died July 4. He was 85.
RAPHAEL McKINLEY Coel, a civil-rights leader who worked in many of the crusades for racial justice in the Philadelphia of the 1960s, died July 4. He was 85.
Raphael, an insurance executive and decorated Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, lived for the past several years in Murray, Ky., but had lived most of his life in Philadelphia and Havertown.
Raphael marched with the late Cecil B. Moore and other civil-rights firebrands for the integration of Girard College and was an organizer of Philadelphia's participation in the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.
He was president of the West Philadelphia Chapter of the NAACP and was the recipient of many honors from the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Fair Housing Council.
"He began with a purpose, created a vision, built a small empire and left a legacy for many to remember," said his daughter, Crystal Rae Coel Coleman.
After working for a time for the Postal Service at 30th and Market streets, he joined the Prudential Life Insurance Co. and rose quickly to district manager of the Fairmount office in Bala-Cynwyd.
He supervised more than 100 executive assistants, sales managers and agents. When he retired in 1981, the company shut the office, believing that no one could replace him, his daughter said.
Even in business, Raphael pursued his passion for helping others, especially young people, rise out of their circumstances to excel.
The company took an ad in the old Evening Bulletin and Inquirer in 1968. It was headlined: "Ray Coel: Preventing Kids From Committing Economic Suicide."
"The problem of dropouts are man-made, which means they can be re-made," he said in the ad. "A child just has to become aware of his/her talents, decide what he/she wants and then go after it."
Prudential stated in the ad: "For Ray Coel, this search and restore mission is rewarding and satisfying. For us at the Prudential Insurance Company . . . it's rewarding and satisfying too. He works for us."
Raphael, who was called Ray by his wife, was born to McKinley and JoAnna Coel, in North Carolina. He attended school in Duplin and Elizabeth City, N.C.
World War II interrupted his education. He served with the then-segregated Air Corps in the South Pacific.
After the war, he moved to Philadelphia where he worked nights at the Post Office while studying at the Kerpel School of Dental Technology. Although he completed his degree, he worked only briefly as a dental technician.
It was while working for the Post Office that he met his future wife, a student at the University of Pennsylvania who was working part-time at the Post Office. They were married in 1953.
In 1971, he joined Prudential.
After their daughter was born in 1963, they moved from Southwest Philadelphia to Havertown, where he became active in the community. He was president of the Marilyn Park Civic Association and was a founder of the Nile Swim Club, in Yeadon.
Raphael was a devoted member of Greater St. Matthew Independent Church, where he served as an usher, a steward and a trustee who created investments that brought in more than $1 million.
His wife, a Philadelphia public school teacher, died in 1993.
In a 1981 letter to his daughter, he wrote: "Step into the future eagerly, always remembering that what you have on the inside is what really counts . . . Nurture the special person that is you and sparkle today, tomorrow and forever." She is his only survivor.
Services: 10 a.m. tomorrow at Greater St. Matthew Independent Church, Race and Vodges streets. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in West Laurel Hill Cemetery. *