Laura Coelen; was chancellor of higher education board

LAURA COELEN (JOE RUNCI/GLOBE STAFF)

Next to a photograph of Laura Clausen Coelen raking leaves in her Weston garden in a 1978 story, the local newspaper described her as a "wife, mother, gardener, and housing czar. . . . She's good at everything she does!"

A year later, the Weston Town Crier proved it was on to something: Mrs. Coelen was named chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, the first woman to hold that post.

Mrs. Coelen, who later moved to Western Massachusetts and served on the boards of trustees of Holyoke Community College and Greenfield Community College, died of cancer Sept. 5 at her Leverett home. She was 69.

As higher education chancellor from 1979-1981, Mrs. Coelen oversaw statewide planning and coordination of higher education, including all the public institutions and 55 private colleges.

"Laura was a legend in Massachusetts higher education," said Frederick Clark, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. "She was one of the architects of a strong and coordinated system of public higher education."

As education adviser to Governor Edward J. King, he said, Mrs. Coelen "crafted a plan to create a superboard called the board of regents and, while it has undergone changes over the years, the idea of a strong and coordinated public higher education system to serve the youth of Massachusetts endures."

As chancellor, Mrs. Coelen often urged graduates to be proud of their public university education. At Cape Cod Community College in 1980, she told them "not to sell yourselves short," as she feared the state was doing to higher education, according to the Cape Cod Times.

"We're told on Beacon Hill these days that it's time to cut back on higher education in Massachusetts," she told them. "Education is not an expense, it is an investment - an indispensable investment. . . . We need a tax basis which will allocate our precious tax dollars on the basis of educational needs and not political finesse."

She championed other causes, among them urban planning, adequate housing, and town finances. As chairwoman of the Weston Selectmen's Elderly Housing Committee from 1975-1977, she gained town approval of two mixed-income housing projects, according to her curriculum vitae.

Once involved with a public issue, she gave it her all, friends said.

"Laura was an enormously competent, able person," said Patricia Crosson, professor emeritus of education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a longtime friend.

"In her quiet way, she went around helping people do things. But you sensed her abilities. You would always want her in the mix. You could always rely on Laura," Crosson said.

Her death was "truly a loss, not only to our college but to all of higher education," said Robert Pura, president of Greenfield Community College, where she was still on the board.

"I consider her a mentor and a teacher," Pura said. Her knowledge of collecting and using data to aid in planning, he said, strengthened the college.

Laura Grant Bruton was born in Merion, Pa. to Paul Wesley and Margaret (Perry) Bruton. She graduated from the George School in Gwynedd, Pa.

Her husband, Stephen, whom she married in 1988, said he believes Mrs. Coelen's dedication to education stemmed from the example of her parents.

Her father taught constitutional law at the University of Pennsylvania. Her mother had a master's degree at a time when few women did.

She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College in 1961 and earned a master's degree in city planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966.

She had a lively sense of humor, friends said.

Her husband recalled her saying that when she attended MIT, with its low female enrollment, "You had to go into three different buildings to find a ladies' room."

Mrs. Coelen previously was married to L. Wallace Clausen. They had a son, Matthew, of Washington, D.C. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984.

The years 1966-1971 were busy ones for her, including her work with the Massachusetts Department of Community Affairs, Boston Model Cities Agency, and consulting for firms like Arthur D. Little Inc., where she did research on the factors that determined black women's college choices.

She still had time for others, her son said, mentoring many and rarely talking about all the work she had done. He recalled how in recent years, his mother and stepfather had befriended a group of international Smith College students, including one from Brazil and two from Afghanistan. Two of the students wrote a small book about the impact the Coelens had made on their lives.

"In hard times, their kindness reminds me that there are great, kind, and loving people," wrote Shaharzad Akbar, one of the Afghan students. "People with different lives from different parts of the world can create strong, beautiful bonds with each other."

Even when Mrs. Coelen realized that the end was near, Crosson said, she tried to make it easier for others. "Laura was quite careful to try to plan her last time, to help others, to complete projects and to see friends."

In addition to her husband, son, and former husband, Mrs. Coelen leaves a brother, David Bruton of Philadelphia; a sister, Jane Batista of Wellesley; one stepdaughter, Catherine Scoles of Holyoke; two stepsons, Christopher of Pacific Palisades, Calif., and Seth of Huntington Beach, Calif.; and four grandchildren.

A service will be held tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in Mount Toby Meeting of Friends in Leverett.

Gloria Negri can be reached at negri@globe.com.