Coleman Bean died peacefully on Sunday, December 17, 2017 in Falls Church, Virginia.

Coleman was born in Anniston, Alabama, on August 9, 1928.

His parents were Dr. William Gleeson Bean and Lucy Marstellar Bean.

He grew up in Lexington on the campus of Washington and Lee University, where his father was head of Washington and Lee's history department from 1930 until 1962 and had joined the W&L faculty in 1922. Dr. Bean was widely known as an expert on southern history and the Civil War in particular.

Coleman attended W&L for one year prior to entering the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Upon graduating from West Point in 1950, he was commissioned as a regular Air Force officer and was assigned to the Strategic Air Force Command (SAC), radar navigator-bombadier on a B-50 Bomber, where he served for four years. In September 1954 he entered the University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville. He was on the dean's list, elected to the Order of the Coif, and was student assistant to Professor T.M. Boyd. Coleman passed the Virginia Bar in 1956 and graduated second in his class in February 1957. He also received a Master of Law (federal taxation) from Georgetown Graduate School of Law, in Washington, D.C. During his college years he played tennis and basketball. Upon graduation from UVA, Coleman was an associate lawyer for McGuire, Eggleston, Babcock & Woods in Richmond.

After a short time in Richmond and with $50 in his pocket, he went to Washington D.C. Soon thereafter he became the eighth lawyer at Howrie, Simon, Baker and Murchison. While there Coleman met George Webster, who became his friend and law partner. He continued to practice law for the next 25 years at Webster Chamberlain and Bean in Washington, D.C.

Coleman was a member of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington. D.C. He was also a member of the Metropolitan Club in Washington, D.C. for 46 years and the Chevy Chase Club in Chevy Chase, Md.

For many years Coleman had been a member of the Lexington Golf & Country Club and the Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville. He lived in Georgetown for over 40 years, and after his retirement and prior to his death, he resided in Great Falls with his wife, Lois Mahoney Bean, and their beloved standard poodle, Brigitte. Coleman is also survived by his brother, William Gleeson Bean, of Lexington.

Interment will take place on January 10, 2018 at 1 p.m. at the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery in Lexington. A memorial service will be held at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Washington and Lee University or to the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.