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R. E. Coker

Robert Ervin Coker became professor of zoology at Chapel Hill in 1922, chaired his department from 1935 to 1944 and was named a Kenan professor in 1939. After retiring from teaching in 1947 he organized an Institute of Fisheries Research at Frank Porter Graham's request. He died in Chapel Hill in 1967 and was buried in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery.

Source: NCpedia: Coker, Robert Ervin (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1979)

Also found in catalogs as R. E. (Robert Ervin) Coker.

1876–1967 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

5 works about R. E. Coker are indexed here, as are 4 works by Coker.

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Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineOrange County’s PWA school building program, 1935–19361935–1936 · 29 events · In 1935 Orange County sought Public Works Administration money for school buildings, with the government to grant 45 per cent, and the size of the county's own share decided how much got built. A $471,000 application was approved, but the commissioners limited the county's share to $150,000, cutting the program to $272,000. When bids ran above estimates they raised the share to $190,000 and cut the new Hillsboro school for Black children and the Training School addition. The school board kept the Training School on its site despite a petition from some of Chapel Hill's Black residents. By May 1936 ten projects were under way, and the new Chapel Hill high school opened in October 1936.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 25 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Robert Ervin Coker becomes professor of zoology at UNC Coker, who had worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, accepted a professorship of zoology at Chapel Hill. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Coker, Robert Ervin
  2. M. E. Hogan and R. E. Coker are elected to the Chapel Hill school board Meeting jointly with the hold-over school board members on June 24, 1929, the Chapel Hill aldermen elected banker M. E. Hogan and zoologist R. E. Coker to the town's school board, succeeding N. W. Walker and R. A. Eubanks. The board's next task was choosing a successor to superintendent B. A. Stevens. People: R. E. Coker, N. W. Walker, Robert A. Eubanks, Milton E. Hogan Place: Town Hall, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 28, 1929, p. 1
  3. The Chapel Hill school board drops six teachers and the school secretary Soon after Superintendent Hoyle resigned, the board, chaired by W. S. Roberson, told six teachers and the secretary they would not be re-elected, after a committee inquiry into the school; no economy was involved, as the next budget kept the same pay scale. The Weekly reported that many parents thought the notices came too late and too suddenly for the teachers to find other places. People: W. S. Roberson, R. E. Coker, Edgar Wallace Knight, Eric A. Abernethy, Milton E. Hogan, Carl T. Durham Place: Chapel Hill schoolSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 27, 1932, p. 1
  4. R. E. Coker chairs UNC's zoology department Coker chaired the zoology department from 1935 to 1944 and at the same time chaired the Division of Natural Sciences. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Coker, Robert Ervin
  5. Black Chapel Hill residents petition the school board to move their school to a new site Some of Chapel Hill's Black residents petitioned the school board to move the Orange County Training School, complaining that the site was not central, lay outside the town limits without fire or police protection or lights, and had no playground or athletic field and gullied grounds. On October 11 the board answered that it would keep the site, renovate the old building, add a new one, buy more land and a better approach, and arrange fire protection. People: R. E. Coker Place: Orange County Training School, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 4, 1935, p. 1
  6. The University gives land on the Pittsboro road for a new Chapel Hill High School The University gave Orange County a wooded three-acre plot on the west side of the Pittsboro road, between the Phi Delta Theta lot and University Drive, for a new $100,000 brick high school to be built with PWA help. In return the school board widened its teacher-training partnership with the University's education department; the elementary grades were to stay in the old Franklin Street building. People: R. E. Coker, H. D. Carter Place: West side of the Pittsboro road at University Drive, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 11, 1935, p. 1
  7. Chapel Hill lays the cornerstone of its new high school On Monday afternoon, May 11, 1936 the school children marched across the village to the new high school building on the Pittsboro road, where school board chairman Robert E. Coker placed a box of records in the cornerstone, among them a memorial to former board members W. S. Roberson, Nathan W. Walker and Dr. Eric A. Abernethy. The building, costing about $106,000 on a site the University gave the county, was paid for 45 per cent by a PWA grant and 55 per cent by county borrowing. People: R. E. Coker, H. D. Carter Place: New Chapel Hill High School, Pittsboro road, Chapel Hill · Also named: Eric A. Abernethy, W. S. Roberson, Nathan W. WalkerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 15, 1936, p. 2
  8. J. Minor Gwynn gives up the Chapel Hill school superintendency J. Minor Gwynn, superintendent of the Chapel Hill schools since 1932 and a teacher there since 1927, decided to leave the post at the end of the session to teach full time in the University. School board chairman R. E. Coker credited him with the planning of the new high school and a new building at the Orange County Training School, and the board began looking with the University for a successor. People: R. E. Coker, J. Minor Gwynn Place: Chapel Hill schools · Also mentions: Orange County Training SchoolSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 26, 1937, p. 1
  9. Chapel Hill rededicates its Daniel Boone Trail marker opposite the post office At a town ceremony Ella Boone Dixon, a Boone descendant, placed a flag over the Boone Trail plaque and J. Hampton Rich explained its legend. Mayor John M. Foushee led the program. People: R. E. Coker, John M. Foushee Place: Franklin Street opposite the post office, Chapel Hill · Also named: Ella Boone Dixon, J. Hampton RichSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, March 5, 1938, p. 1 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, March 4, 1938, p. 1; Commemorative Landscapes
  10. The Orange County Training School graduates its largest class, fourteen Chapel Hill's Black high school held its commencement before a crowded auditorium; eight seniors spoke on the school's activities in place of a guest speaker. The Weekly reported 14 graduates, the largest class in the school's history. People: R. E. Coker, Harold M. Holmes, Allison W. Honeycutt Place: Orange County Training School, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, June 3, 1938, p. 5
  11. The National Academy of Sciences holds its fall meeting at Chapel Hill The National Academy of Sciences met for three days in Venable Hall, its first meeting in the South, the Weekly said, with about thirty of the nation's leading scientists reading papers; the University gave a dinner at the Carolina Inn and Duke a luncheon and campus tour. William deB. MacNider and H. V. Wilson, the only Academy members in North Carolina, took part with many other faculty members, and MacNider's paper on how kidney cells change their structure with age drew an Associated Press story. People: William de Berniere MacNider, H. V. Wilson, R. E. Coker Place: Venable Hall, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Carolina InnSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 28, 1938, p. 1
  12. R. J. M. Hobbs leaves the Chapel Hill school board and J. Temple Gobbel joins it The trustees of the Chapel Hill schools elected J. Temple Gobbel on March 31 to fill out the unexpired term of Congressman Carl Durham, and at their April meeting reluctantly accepted the resignation of R. J. M. Hobbs. Under the new school law requiring annual reappointment, they unanimously reappointed superintendent Allison W. Honeycutt. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Carl T. Durham, R. E. Coker, Allison W. Honeycutt Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: J. Temple Gobbel · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 7, 1939, p. 1
Show all 25 dated events
  1. Chapel Hill high school graduates a class of 66, twice the year before At commencement in Hill Music Hall Superintendent A. W. Honeycutt, school board chairman R. E. Coker and principal Walter Conrad Jr. gave diplomas to 66 seniors, twice as many as in 1938, after a student forum on youth and the South's problems led by L. M. Brooks of the University. People: R. E. Coker, Allison W. Honeycutt Place: Hill Music Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: Walter Conrad Jr., L. M. BrooksSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 16, 1939, p. 3
  2. R. E. Coker is named Kenan professor of zoology The executive committee of the trustees named Coker, head of the zoology department, Kenan professor of zoology on July 31, 1939. The chair had been held by H. V. Wilson, who died the winter before. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: H. V. WilsonSearch the index · NCpedia: Coker, Robert Ervin · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, August 4, 1939, p. 1
  3. The zoology department moves into its new building During the University's spring holidays the zoology department under Robert E. Coker moved into its new building near the junction of the South road and the Pittsboro highway, opposite Venable Hall, and the botany department took over its old rooms in Davie Hall. The move nearly finished the shifts brought on by the building program, leaving only the new power plant, whose steam and cable tunnel had been held up by the hard winter. People: R. E. Coker, William Chambers Coker Place: New zoology building, University campus, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Davie Hall, Venable HallThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 29, 1940, p. 1
  4. President Graham names a University faculty committee on national defense Graham appointed Francis Bradshaw, H. G. Baity, C. P. Spruill and Robert E. Coker to work with a trustees' committee named by Governor Hoey on ways the University could help the state and nation prepare for defense. Proposals under study included military training, airport facilities and an aviation department, an inventory of technical skills, and defense research. People: Frank Porter Graham, Herman G. Baity, C. P. (Corydon Perry) Spruill, R. E. Coker Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: Francis BradshawSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 28, 1940, p. 1
  5. Chapel Hill High School opens with a record 442 pupils and teaches in its auditorium The high school building, in its fifth year, opened on September 16 with 442 pupils, 31 more than the year before, and Superintendent A. W. Honeycutt said offices, the science laboratory and the auditorium were in use as classrooms, some classes running to 45 or 50. Architect Weeks and the state architect were studying an addition, and school board chairman R. E. Coker told the PTA on September 24 that more rooms had to come the next year. People: R. E. Coker, Allison W. Honeycutt Place: Chapel Hill High School, Pittsboro Road, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 20, 1940, p. 1
  6. State survey team recommends a gymnasium and new departments for Chapel Hill High School Twelve educators led by J. Henry Highsmith of the state department of public instruction surveyed the Chapel Hill high school for the national Cooperative Study of Secondary School Standards. Their first recommendation was a health and physical education program from the first grade up, with a gymnasium; they also urged a cafeteria, industrial arts, and an agriculture department for the many students bused in from the country. People: R. E. Coker, Allison W. Honeycutt Place: Chapel Hill High School · Also named: J. Henry HighsmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 9, 1941, p. 1
  7. The University dedicates its new zoology building as the Wilson Zoology Laboratory On Thanksgiving morning President Graham dedicated the University's new zoology building, built with help from a federal grant on the rise west of the Bell Tower, and named it the Wilson Zoology Laboratory for Henry Van Peters Wilson, who had taught at the University for 47 years until his death in 1939. R. B. House presided, Robert E. Coker, Kemp D. Battle, Ivey F. Lewis and C. D. Beers spoke, and a portrait of Wilson by Alice Kent Stoddard was shown for the first time. People: Frank Porter Graham, R. B. House, R. E. Coker, H. V. Wilson Place: Zoology building (Wilson Hall), UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also named: Alice Kent Stoddard, Kemp D. BattleThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 21, 1941, p. 3
  8. The Chapel Hill school trustees condemn the proposed educational amendment The board of trustees of the Chapel Hill schools, chaired by R. E. Coker, adopted a resolution calling the proposed constitutional amendment for a new state board of education "very dangerous" and urging voters to defeat it at the November election, citing its large board appointed by congressional districts and its rule that most members come from business and finance. People: R. E. Coker, Edgar Wallace Knight Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 18, 1942, p. 1
  9. Chapel Hill schools hold a Schools at War ceremony in Hill Music Hall Pupils and teachers of the Chapel Hill schools marked National Schools at War Week with a ceremony in Hill Music Hall at which seventeen war-activity groups, from the Junior Red Cross and salvage squads to the Victory Farm Workers and 4-H clubs, answered a roll call. Mayor R. W. Madry, Superintendent A. W. Honeycutt and school board chairman R. E. Coker spoke. People: Robert W. Madry, R. E. Coker, Allison W. Honeycutt, William F. Lathan Place: Hill Music Hall, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolsThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 20, 1942, p. 5
  10. Rebuilding Chapel Hill High School library receives an anonymous $3,000 gift An anonymous donor gave $3,000 to rebuild the high school library lost in the August 1942 fire, part for books and part as an endowment, to be administered by a school board committee of R. E. Coker, Mrs. R. H. Wettach and J. T. Gobbel. A committee under Mrs. H. D. Crockford had already gathered about 1,100 books and $600, which librarian Mrs. W. H. Peacock had catalogued in the library's quarters in the Baptist church. People: R. E. Coker Place: Chapel Hill High School quarters, Baptist church, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. T. Gobbel, Mrs. H. D. Crockford, Mrs. W. H. Peacock, Mrs. R. H. WettachThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 29, 1943, p. 1
  11. Chapel Hill keeps its total tax rate at $1.55 as the school levy rises The aldermen held the town's total rate at $1.55, with the town government's share falling from $1.25 to $1.23 and the school district's rising from 30 to 32 cents. School board chairman R. E. Coker explained that the state's new payment for the ninth month eased costs but debt service rose, so the board cut its supplementary levy from 20 to 15 cents and voted teachers a 7.5 per cent supplement. People: R. E. Coker Place: Town Hall, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 16, 1943, p. 1
  12. County boards back a first wing for a new Chapel Hill High School Meeting with the board of education and Dr. R. E. Coker of the Chapel Hill school board, the county commissioners favored starting a high school building in Chapel Hill to replace the one lost to fire, beginning with a single wing of about twelve classrooms. The same day the commissioners reappointed G. W. Ray county accountant and the board of education kept R. H. Claytor as superintendent for two more years. People: R. E. Coker, R. H. Claytor, Gilbert W. Ray Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Chapel Hill school boardSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 5, 1945, p. 1
  13. County boards authorize contracts for a new Chapel Hill High School building Meeting in Hillsborough, the County Board of Education and the county commissioners accepted the low bids and let the Chapel Hill school board sign contracts for a new high school building. It was planned as a two-story classroom wing with a basement. People: R. H. Claytor, R. E. Coker Place: Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Chapel Hill school boardSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 6, 1945, p. 1

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as R. E. Coker, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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Indexed works

Works about or by R. E. Coker. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

By R. E. Coker

Anomalies of crustacean distribution in the Carolinas with list of Cyclopoids of the general region of Chapel Hill, N.C

Coker, R. E. (Robert Ervin), 1876-1967 · 1938 · Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society

Robert Ervin Coker reports on anomalies in the distribution of crustaceans in the Carolinas and appends a list of cyclopoids from the general region of Chapel Hill. Reprinted from the June 1938 Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, which the society published in Chapel Hill, it is both a local faunal list and a wider distribution study.

UNC

Beginning of laboratory work in the university

Coker, R. E. (Robert Ervin), 1876-1967 · 1951

Robert Ervin Coker (1876 to 1967) wrote this short 1951 typescript on the beginnings of laboratory work at the University of North Carolina, and the copy carries some handwritten notations. Topics include the teaching of science, laboratory rooms and equipment at Chapel Hill, and the university curriculum. No place of production is recorded. Part of UNC's North Carolina Collection.

UNC

The new building for zoology, University of North Carolina

Coker, R. E. (Robert Ervin), 1876-1967 · 1940 · Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society

R.E. Coker describing the new zoology building at the University of North Carolina, reprinted from the Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, volume 56, number 2, for December 1940. Published at Chapel Hill by the society. A short piece of record on one addition to the science campus.

UNC

R. E. Coker papers, 1748-1968.

Coker, R. E. (Robert Ervin), 1876-1967 · 1748

Sixty three linear feet, about 50,000 items, from the marine biologist Robert Ervin Coker (1876-1967), with dates reaching from 1748 to 1968. Part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 3380. Topics include marine biology and zoology teaching at the university, the United States Bureau of Fisheries, the state Board of Conservation and Development, the Chapel Hill School Board, family life in South Carolina, and the diaries of Sarah Witherspoon Ervin McIver.

UNC

About R. E. Coker

Collier Cobb Photographic Collection, circa 1890s-1920s

Cobb, Collier, 1862-1934 · 1894

Collier Cobb (1862-1934) taught at the University of North Carolina and made photographs there from the 1890s into the 1920s. Approximately 500 items in seven linear feet, P0013 in the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives at UNC. Subjects include campus buildings, the Old Well, alumni, employees, and faculty, with portraits including Wilson Caldwell, Harry Woodburn Chase, R. D. W. Connor, and Frederick H. Koch.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Coker, R. E. (Robert Ervin), 1876-1967.

UNC

Robert Ervin Coker : June 4, 1876-October 2, 1967.

1968

A typescript memorial to Robert Ervin Coker (1876-1967), the marine biologist and zoologist, submitted for the minutes of the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and dated 2 February 1968. Thirteen leaves with an unnumbered page, part of the North Carolina Collection at UNC.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Coker, R. E. (Robert Ervin), 1876-1967.

UNC

Robert Ervin Coker.

1966 · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A printed tribute to Robert Ervin Coker, the biologist who taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, issued by the university and dated 4 June 1966. Eleven unnumbered pages with a plate carrying his portrait.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Coker, R. E. (Robert Ervin), 1876-1967.

UNC

Institute of Marine Sciences of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1937-1999.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Institute of Marine Sciences · 1937

Marine science records made at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1937 to 1999, about 10,400 items in 15 linear feet, University Archives at UNC, collection 40068. The institute grew out of fisheries research work, and topics include research grants in North Carolina, the Knapp Foundation, and the zoologist R. E. Coker (1876-1967).

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Coker, R. E. (Robert Ervin), 1876-1967.

UNC

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