Stephen Ellsworth Coit (born April 18, 1948 in

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...

) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and painter, best known for his series of portraits commissioned by

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Coit graduated from Kent School in

Kent, Connecticut Kent is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. Located alongside the border with New York, the town's population was 3,019 according to the 2020 census. Kent is home to three boarding schools: Kent School, the Marvelwood School ...

in 1967 and

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1971. He received an MBA degree from the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

in 1977. He began his career as a senior programmer at Searle Medidate, a division of

G.D. Searle G.D. Searle, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer. It is currently a trademark company and subsidiary of Pfizer, operating in more than 43 countries. It also operates as a distribution trademark for various pharmaceuticals that were devel ...

. Coit then worked as a product manager for

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

Corporation. Subsequently, he joined Prime Computer as European marketing manager, and was then recruited by the founding team of

Raster Technologies Raster may refer to: * Raster graphics, graphical techniques using arrays of pixel values * Raster graphics editor, a computer program * Raster scan, the pattern of image readout, transmission, storage, and reconstruction in television and compute ...

to be its first vice president of marketing. From 1984 to 1994, he was a general partner of Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre, a venture capital firm. Coit was a director of Aspect Medical Systems, Inc., from 1987 to 2003. From 1995 to 1997, Coit was a general partner of Charles River Ventures, a venture capital firm. From 1989, he was a director of

International Data Group International Data Group (IDG, Inc.) is a market intelligence and demand generation company focused on the technology industry. IDG, Inc.’s mission is centered around supporting the technology industry through research, data, marketing technol ...

, a provider of media research and conferences to the information technology industry. From 1997 he has been self-employed as an artist full-time. Coit relates that, while he always liked to draw, it was only after a friend gave him a box of pastels in 1992, while he was ill for some months, that he considered art as a career.Primus V
"The College Pump: New Faces"
Harvard Magazine (January–February, 2011) Coit was appointed in 2002 as the Harvard Foundation's portraiture project artist and has painted portraits of individuals with distinguished service to Harvard, mainly people of color. His portraits under this commission include Dean of Students Archie Epps, professor of music and East Asian languages and civilization

Rulan Chao Pian Rulan Chao Pian (), née Rulan Chao (April 20, 1922 November 30, 2013)

, senior admissions officer David L. Evans, musicologist

Eileen Jackson Southern Eileen Jackson Southern (February 19, 1920 – October 13, 2002) was an American musicologist, researcher, author, and teacher. Southern's research focused on black American musical styles, musicians, and composers; she also published on earl ...

, anthropologist Stanley Tambiah, administrator Kiyo Morimoto, Dean of the College Fred Jewett, Dean of Harvard College

John Monro John Monro may refer to: * John Monro (advocate) (1725–1773), Scottish advocate * John Monro (physician) (1716–1791), physician and specialist in insanity * John Monro (surgeon) (1670–1740), Scottish surgeon * John U. Monro (1912–2002), Am ...

, medical school professor Harold Amos, 17th century native American alumnus Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, psychiatrist Chester Pierce, professor of government

Martin Kilson Martin Luther Kilson Jr. (February 14, 1931 – April 24, 2019) was an American political scientist. He was the first black academic to be appointed a full professor at Harvard University, where he was later the Frank G. Thomson Professor of Gov ...

, and

Bunting Institute The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

professor

Florence Ladd Florence Ladd (born June 16, 1932) is the Director Emeritus of the Bunting Institute and the author of the novel ''Sarah's Psalm''. Biography Ladd was born in Washington, D.C. Her parents were both educators and she grew up in Washington, D.C. ...

. Coit's portrait of Harvard preacher

Peter J. Gomes Peter John Gomes (May 22, 1942 – February 28, 2011) was an American preacher and theologian, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard Divinity School and Pusey Minister at Harvard's Memorial Church — in the words of Harvard' ...

hangs in Harvard's Signet Society In addition to his Harvard commissions, Coit has executed portraits for Leslie University (of president emerita Margaret McKenna) and Tufts University (of president

Lawrence S. Bacow Lawrence Seldon Bacow (; born August 24, 1951) is an American lawyer, economist, author and university administrator, and the current and 29th president of Harvard University. He took office on July 1, 2018, succeeding Drew Gilpin Faust. Before ...

). Coit is a trustee of the Boston Museum of Science.Boston Museum of Science
"Trustees and Overseers"
/ref> In the late 1990s, he was a trustee of the Computer Museum in Boston.

External links

*Artist's website a
SteveCoit.com
*Reproductions of the Harvard commissions a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coit, Stephen E. 1948 births Living people Harvard Business School alumni Harvard College alumni Kent School alumni American male painters American portrait painters 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 20th-century American male artists