COMAN, JOHN C.

COMAN, JOHN C. (6 Mar. 1926 - 14 April 1997) was a banker, lawyer, and Romanian community leader. He was born in Cleveland to Anna (Zula) and John Coman, both of whom came from Romania. As a child he delivered groceries from his parents' store on W. 49th St. and Detroit Ave. He graduated B.S. from Western Reserve University in 1949, earned a master's degree in 1955, and received a law degree in 1968 from Cleveland-Marshall Law School. During World War II he served with the Navy as a surgical corpsman in San Diego, and at the Naval Air Hospital in Memphis. Upon discharge, he was Head Corpsman in Surgery. Mr. Coman began his banking career in 1951 as a teller with Cleveland Trust Co., which had become AmeriTrust Bank by the time he retired as vice president of the special claims department in 1984. He joined the Carpatina Society in 1950, serving many years as the organization's president, and frequently acted as its attorney. He became national President of the Union & League of Romanian Societies of America (see ROMANIANS) from 1964-1968 and from 1976-1980. During many of those years he served as the organization's attorney. Coman received three invitations from the White House during the Johnson and Carter administrations, and served as a goodwill ambassador to Romania where he helped families to emigrate to the United States. A life long member of St. Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church, he served as president of the church's Charity Union, and served for over twenty years on the Parish Council. He married Violet Shafer in 1951, and they had two children, Michael and Pamela. Mr. Coman died at his home in Westlake. He is buried in Sunset Memorial Park in North Olmstead.