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Russell C. Coile
90th Birthday Russell C. Coile, www.DisasterMan.
com, by Xavier K. Maruyama, Pacifi c Grove
Hometown Bulletin, March 7, 2007, Page 11.
Russell Coile turns 90 years old on March 11, 2007. Most who have
reached that milestone are spectators of life and rely upon others to take
care of them should an earthquake, fl ood, or other disaster occur. Not
Pacifi c Grove's Russell Coile. He is the one to whom many municipalities
turn, to prepare for those unexpected eventualities.
Dr. Russell C. Coile, Ph.D, is a Certifi ed Emergency Manager in the fi eld
of Disaster Preparedness and Management. Reaching his age, you'd expect
Russell to be sitting on accolades from his lifetime accomplishments,
but that's not his style. Russell is currently the Disaster Preparedness
Coordinator for the Sand City Police Department. He was the Disaster
Coordinator in the Pacifi c Grove Fire Department for the last decade of the
20
th
century. As a Certifi ed Emergency Manager with credentials from the
International Association of Emergency Managers and as a Fellow of the
Institute of Civil Defence and Disaster Studies of London, England, Russell
has been tapped for his expertise by many agencies including, locally, the
American Red Cross and the Naval Postgraduate School.
Disaster Preparedness Management is an emerging profession, not one
that was offered as a career path when Russell, born in 1917, was growing
up as the son of a career Army master sergeant. He received his S.B., S.M.,
and E.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. (If you see a snazzy Mazda sports car with the license plate
`MIT 38', give him a wave.) He did a lot of things, but along the way, he
managed to fi nd time to pick up a Ph.D in Information Science from the City
University, London, England; complete the Senior Offi cer Course from the
Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island; and take the Squadron Offi cer
Course, Command & Staff Course, and become an Air War College graduate
from Air University, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. Russell Coile is a Professional
Engineer with licenses from both the District of Columbia and the state of
Pennsylvania.
In his spare time, he managed to work for a living. He was commissioned
in the U.S. Army Signal Corps after graduation from college and maintained