Background
David Robert Coker was born on November 20, 1870 in Hartsville, South Carolina, United States. He was the second son and third of seven children of James Lide Coker and Sue (Stout) Coker.
agriculturist Businessman philanthropist plant breeder
David Robert Coker was born on November 20, 1870 in Hartsville, South Carolina, United States. He was the second son and third of seven children of James Lide Coker and Sue (Stout) Coker.
After academy preparation he entered the University of South Carolina, from which he received his A. B. degree in 1891. For his various accomplishments he received honorary degrees from Duke University (1930), the University of North Carolina (1931), the College of Charleston (1935), and Clemson College (1937).
Like his father, he was deeply interested in agriculture, and through their collaboration the Coker farm was transformed into one of the South's principal experimental agencies. Especial attention was given to soil fertilization, crop rotation, and seed improvement. David Coker's most significant achievement was in cotton breeding. He began his experiments in 1902, at first assisting his younger brother William C. Coker, a botanist at the University of North Carolina, then after 1904 carrying on alone. By 1914 he had developed several improved varieties of short-staple cotton. Together with the similar work of Dr. Herbert J. Webber of the United States Department of Agriculture, with whom Coker was in close touch, these improved strains greatly increased the yield and profits of southern cotton growers and made possible the new upland cotton industry of South Carolina. In addition to cotton, Coker experimented with corn, oats, rye, peas, beans, tobacco, melons, and sorghum. Preaching the gospel that "science never fails to help any man in practical agriculture, " he carried on a widespread campaign to reeducate the southern farmer, sending out thousands of circulars each year. He himself visited the cotton-growing areas of the Old South, giving lectures on behalf of better seed selection and better methods of cultivation. He was for many years president of the Plant Breeders Association. Like his father, Coker also devoted considerable time to business enterprise, especially in the field of merchandising. A public-spirited citizen and a loyal Democrat, he served as mayor of Hartsville, 1902-04, chairman of the South Carolina Council of Defense, and chairman of the federal Food Administration for his state during World War I. He was also a member of the National Agricultural Commission to Europe (1918). Coker continued his father's tradition of being one of South Carolina's foremost philanthropists. Interested in all phases of social welfare, particularly in education, he was for many years a trustee of the University of South Carolina and of Coker College for Women, founded and endowed by his father. Coker was in ill health for some years before his death, which resulted from coronary thrombosis. He died at his home in Hartsville and was buried in the cemetery of the First Baptist Church there.
National Agricultural Commission
On September 10, 1894, Coker married Jessie Ruth Richardson of Timmonsville, who died in 1913. Five children were the fruit of this union: Katherine, Hannah, Eleanor, Robert, and Samuel. His second wife, whom he married in 1915, was Margaret May Roper of Washington, D. C. , the daughter of Daniel C. Roper, later Secretary of Commerce under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. There were three children of this marriage: Martha, Mary, and Carolyn.