Chicago Tribune January 15, 1986:

Robert E. Coulson, 73, former mayor of Waukegan, served as Illinois Senate minority leader in 1971. A Republican, he also had served at different times as majority whip and assistant minority leader. In his 15 years in the legislature, he was chief sponsor of legislation for no-fault insurance, revenue sharing, the Vietnam bonus, constitutional reform and removal of the personal property tax on individuals.

Services for Mr. Coulson, a resident of Waukegan, will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Christ Episcopal Church, 410 Grand Ave., Waukegan. He died Saturday in Victory Memorial Hospital, Waukegan.

Mr. Coulson was born on a farm in Grayslake, the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Churchel Edwards, who settled in Lake County in 1837 at Avon Center. He was also a descendent of Ninian Edwards, territorial governor of Illinois and Mary Todd Lincoln's brother-in-law. He received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth in 1933 and a law degree from the University of Chicago.

During World War II, he was a captain in the Army. He spent 10 months in China in charge of counterintelligence for the Office of Strategic Services. He left the Army as a major.

Mr. Coulson served as an assistant state's attorney for Lake County and was in charge of juvenile matters for the Lake County court system, becoming known as an author and a speaker on problems confronting youth.

He was elected mayor of Waukegan in 1949 at age 36.

His record was a strong one on the side of reform. He rid the city of slot machines and punch cards, brought the police department under civil service, created a planning commission, balanced the budget and wrote a weekly news column on city affairs.

In 1957, he was elected to the Illinois House and resigned as mayor, believing that holding both positions represented a conflict of interest. As a state representative, he worked unsuccessfully to keep the North Shore Line in existence. In 1962, he was elected to fill the unexpired term of a state senator elected to Congress.

He was the Illinois Senate sponsor of the Vietnam bonus bill that was signed into law in 1965.

Mr. Coulson served as majority whip under Senate Majority Leader W. Russell Arrington (R., Evanston). In 1971, Democrats took control of the Senate. Ten days later, Arrington had a stroke and Mr. Coulson was elected to serve in his place as minority leader. He retired at the end of 1972.

He was also a writer and had the lead article in several issues of Harper's magazine.

Survivors include his wife, Rose; a daughter, Barbara Kurtin; two sons, John and William; two grandchildren; and a sister, Ruth.