Leonard S. Coleman Jr. (born February 17, 1949) was the last president of the National League. He held the office from 1994 until 1999 when it was eliminated by Major League Baseball. He is currently on the Board of Directors of H. J. Heinz Company, the Omnicom Group, Cendant Corporation, Aramark,

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was ...

and Electronic Arts. He received a Master of Education from the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first Harvard school ...

and a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Early life and education

Born in Newark, New Jersey on February 17, 1949, Coleman was raised in Montclair, New Jersey and attended Montclair High School, where he played baseball and football, earning a selection as a New Jersey All-American halfback during his senior year. He played both sports at Princeton University and became the first black athlete to score a touchdown for the Princeton Tigers football team but joined two other black players in filing charges that the university had discriminated against them in their opportunities to fairly participate on the football team based on their race, leading to the dismissal of all three players from the team. Coleman graduated from Princeton University in 1971 with a degree in history, then attended Harvard University, where he earned both a master's degree in public administration (MPA) and a master's degree in education and social policy.

Career

A resident of Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, Coleman served as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs until July 15, 1988, when he left office to enter private industry and was succeeded by

Anthony M. Villane Anthony M. Villane Jr. (December 24, 1929 – June 29, 2022) was an American dentist and Republican Party politician who was elected to serve seven terms in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1976 to 1988, and served as head of the New Jerse ...

. He had also served as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Energy, and he was chairman of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission and the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. While serving as president of the National League, Coleman operated Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, forging a working alliance with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to help grow the RBI program. He also served as chairman of the board of directors of the Jackie Robinson Foundation for 18 years. As of September 2016, Coleman is reported to own shares in Aramark, Avis Budget Group, Electronic Arts, and Omnicom Group with the total value of US$5.3 million.

External links

Sports Encyclopedia Biography

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Leonard S. Jr. 1949 births Living people Baseball players from Newark, New Jersey Churchill Downs executives Commissioners of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Montclair High School (New Jersey) alumni National League presidents People from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey People from Montclair, New Jersey Players of American football from Newark, New Jersey Princeton Tigers baseball players Princeton Tigers football players