Curtis Eugene “Gene” Coker, age 90, of Dallas, Texas, passed away on September 22, 2026, after a full and extraordinary life. He was a larger-than-life presence who was deeply loved by his family and many friends.

Gene was born on February 6, 1936, in Albany, Texas. His remarkable athletic ability emerged early—he was playing eighth-grade football while still in the fourth grade. With the encouragement of Albany playwright Robert Nail, Gene headed north to attend The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, where he received the George W. W. Berryman Award as the school’s outstanding football player.

His success at Lawrenceville led to being recruited to Yale University, where he played fullback and linebacker and earned All-American honors in 1957. A gifted all-around athlete, Gene also competed in swimming, diving, and track, including the javelin, while working various jobs to help pay his way through college.

Gene remained an athlete long after college. Well into adulthood, he could still swim a beautiful butterfly and perform flips and gainers from the high dive at the Highland Park pool. But what the neighborhood kids loved most were his legendary cannonballs, which sent water flying out of the pool and, according to family lore, into the neighbors’ yards.

While at Yale, Gene met Melissa Jones during their sophomore year in 1956. They married on June 14, 1958, in Norwich, Connecticut, beginning a marriage that would span more than 68 years. After graduating from Yale, Gene earned a

master’s degree in geology from Rice University. He and Melissa settled in Dallas, where they raised their four children, Libby, Eddie, Jeff, and Michele.

Gene brought the same drive and competitive spirit to business that he had brought to athletics. He worked in real estate development, founded C.E.C. Construction Company and Coker Development Company, and later was instrumental in starting South Texas Freezer and Texas Freezer companies specializing in the construction of freezer warehouses. His career had successes and setbacks, and Gene met both with the determination to keep going. As he said in a 1984 interview about striking out on his own, “Either you make it yourself, or you don’t.”

He was equally passionate about life outside of work. Gene was an accomplished hunter and fisherman, an avid golfer, and a gardener. He coached his sons’ YMCA football teams and daughter’s soccer team and brought considerable intensity to the job. He was competitive, demanding, funny, generous, and unmistakably himself.

For all his accomplishments and interests, family remained at the center of Gene’s life. In that same 1984 interview, when asked about life beyond work, he said, “I enjoy being with my family—my wife of 26 years and my four children.” In the decades that followed, that family grew to include 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, each a source of tremendous pride.

Gene is survived by his beloved wife, Melissa Jones Coker; his children, Libby (Al Hintz), Eddie Coker (Michele), Jeff Coker ( Claudia) and Michele Tilley (Scott); 11 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Gene lived a big life. He loved a challenge, loved his family, and left behind more stories than could ever fi t into an obituary. His family will miss him.

In lieu of flowers a donation may be made to The Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas https://www.sccenter.org/donate/