Coleman was born in 1922, and grew up in Mississippi during a time in which the southern United States was dominated by racial segregation and the Jim Crow laws.
In September 1997, his daughter, Stephanie Coleman Epps, was shot to death in front of her two children by a former boyfriend.
Coleman, who was suffering from the effects of diabetes, was unable to attend the trial, though the man was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death in December of that year.
The Center, named Coleman Hall, provides an array of residential reentry treatment services designed to reduce recidivism.
The Distinguished Joseph E. Coleman Award provides financial assistance ranging from $8,000 to $12,000 to African-American students that show academic excellence as well as community and/or extracurricular involvement.