Mary Coleman, 87; Michigan High Court’s First Female Chief
Mary Stallings Coleman, 87, the first woman elected to the Michigan Supreme Court and the first to serve as chief justice, died of cancer Tuesday at her daughter’s home in Ocala, Fla.
A Republican, Coleman was a lawyer in private practice and then a probate court judge before winning a seat on the state’s highest court in 1972. She became chief justice in 1979 and was easily elected to a second eight-year term in 1980.
Coleman played a lifelong role in improving laws affecting children, revising the state’s probate and juvenile justice codes and taking an interest in how the courts treated children.
Born in Forney, Texas, Coleman was the daughter of two lawyers. She received her law degree from George Washington University.
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