[3]: 471  Indiana University conferred a pro merito Ph.D. to Coulter in 1884 while he was serving as professor of botany at Wabash College.

[3]: 472  He was also an elected member of both the United States National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

[5][6] In 1909, Coulter and his wife, along with their children Grace and Merle, survived the sinking of the White Star liner Republic in which six were killed.

While employed at the Boyce Thompson Institute, Coulter died from heart disease at his home in Yonkers, New York, on December 23, 1928, at the age of 77.

[3]: 474 Coulter's student, Henry Chandler Cowles played a significant role in documenting the ecological importance of the Indiana Dunes.