MILT THOMAS

Long-time Vero Beach resident and businessman, James W. “Jim” Coffey, age 87, passed away on Tuesday, April 16.  Coffey lived a true American success story. He was born in 1926 to a sharecropper family, a form of tenant farming that grew out of the post-Civil War South.  At the age of eight and during the Great Depression, his father moved to Florida and left Jim to farm the land, supporting his younger sister and mother. He worked 16 hours a day during planting and harvesting seasons, attending school a few months each year. Yet, he graduated from high school with his contemporaries. 

That was during World War II, so after turning 18 he entered the service, ending up on Okinawa and in the occupation of Japan after the war ended. Upon returning home, and determined not to live his life as a sharecropper, he moved to Ft. Pierce and joined his father, by now a successful tomato farmer.

He left farming and went to work in a Vero Beach service station, later joining Earman Oil Company and rose to president of the company. At a time when Interstate 95 ended at the Vero Beach exit, Coffey acquired all commercial property around it, building the Courtesy House Truck Stop and eventually developing the Outlet Center. After selling Earman Oil and the truck stop, Coffey started a new career in the commercial real estate business, still active until his death.

His many accomplishments in the community included helping to establish the Mueller Center campus and serving as a trustee on Indian River Community College board for many years. He was honored just last year by Indian River State College as the 2012 Dan K. Richardson Entrepreneurship Program’s “Entrepreneur of the Year.”

A more detailed story of his accomplishments will appear in the near future.