Bird Sim Coler

Bird Sim Coler (October 9, 1867 Urbana, Illinois – June 12, 1941 Brooklyn, New York) was an American stockbroker and politician. He served as the first New York City Comptroller after the city's 1898 consolidation and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New York in 1902. He narrowly lost the election to Governor Benjamin Odell Jr.

Early and personal life Coler was born on October 9, 1868, in Urbana, Illinois, the son of William N. Coler and Cordelia Sim. The elder Coler established a banking house after the Civil War and brought his family to Brooklyn. The younger Coler was educated at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.

Career Coler established himself as a stockbroker in New York City, became prominent in municipal and State politics, and was first Comptroller of Greater New York, from 1897 to 1901. In 1902, he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New York, but lost to Benjamin B. Odell Jr., by a small plurality in spite of his enormous lead in New York City.

In 1905, Coler was elected president of the Borough of Brooklyn, on the Municipal Ownership ticket. For his four-year term, Coler appointed Charles Frederic Adams, a Single-Tax advocate who had endorsed Coler's earlier run for governor, to be the Borough Secretary. In 1918, Coler ran unsuccessfully on the Democratic ticket for New York State Comptroller.

Coler was the author of Commercialism in Politics, Two and Two Make Four, He Made Them Twain, and other sociological works.

Legacy Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital on Roosevelt Island bears his name.