The following article about Marvin Cole appeared in the Miami-Dade
Thursday, Sep. 25, 2003

MIAMI-DADE

Fun event a tribute to leader

Participants in an annual bowl-a-thon remember the founder of their organization, who was diagnosed with cancer in June and died in August.

BY ROSS WHITSETT
U/Miami News Service

Event a tribute to leader

It may have been a day of togetherness and fun for participants in the People First of South Florida Bowl-A-Thon on a recent Saturday, but foremost in their minds and conversations was the man who made events and others like it possible for people with disabilities.

Marvin Coile, a spokesman for self-advocacy in the movement for disabled rights, had been undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer when he died Aug. 30 at the age of 57, said his wife Susan. The cancer had been diagnosed in June.

''Everyone loved Marvin. He was a giant in their eyes,'' said Susan Coile, who has a learning disability and now heads People First, the organization her husband founded in 1979 to teach people with physical handicaps how to protect their rights. The organization also provides social activities like the bowl-a-thon, which was held in conjunction with the Association of Retarded Citizens on Sept. 13 at the Cloverleaf Bowling Alley in North Miami-Dade.

It was the 10th annual bowl-a-thon for the organization, which has grown from 14 members to nearly 100 in three chapters in South Dade, North Dade and Broward County. The day was dedicated to Marvin Coile's legacy, said Linda Angress, an advisor for People First through the Sunrise Community Center. More than 30 people came to show their support for the organization and its founder.

''Marvin's loss has hit everyone hard,'' Susan Coile, 48, said, adding that members have stood by as she copes with her recent loss.

The North Miami Beach couple had been married for 26 years, she said. They met in 1976, while working at a school for disabled children and married a year later. Learning disabled and deaf without the assistance of a hearing aid, Marvin Coile was born in Manhattan in 1946 and moved with his family to Miami-Dade County, where he lived since the age of 7. For the past 18 years, he worked as a bagger and janitor at the Publix in Aventura. He would always be working on something, his wife said, and he never adjusted to the cancer because his treatment required him to sit around and rest.

People First started as an offshoot of the South Florida chapter of the Association of Retarded Citizens by the Coiles. They were joined in their cause by Mary Joe Pirone, a friend of Susan Coile, along with Jack French, who had heard Marvin speak once on advocacy. The South Florida chapter is one of several affiliated with the national organization, which was started in 1974 in Oregon.

''More than anything, Marvin wanted the young generation to know about People First and what their rights are. It was his passion,'' Susan Coile said.

Under Marvin Coile's direction, People First has taken its causes to Tallahassee, where members have lobbied legislators on such issues as making public facilities wheelchair-accessible. They also have held voter registration drives and called for businesses to enforce handicapped zones. But the group also deals with issues of discrimination inschool, stores, restaurants and the workplace.

Currently, the group is working to improve public transportation for the disabled in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, said Mallory Benrube, a member of People First.

The organization receives funding from private donors, fundraising events and membership dues. The group's largest yearly event is the Walk-and-Roll-A-Thon. Participants collected sponsorship donations for the most recent event, which was held in April at FIU.

Sponsored by FIU student social workers, the group raised more than $2,000, which was divided among the three chapters to help with events for the year.

The group, looking ahead to its 25th anniversary in March 2004, will continue to advance the agenda outlined by Marvin Coile, Angress said.

''To the very end he was happy to see the movement succeed from the seed he planted,'' Angress said.