Russell Sturgis Codman Jr. (June 15, 1896–June 24, 1992) was an American real estate executive who served as commissioner of the Boston Fire Department from 1946 to 1950.
In 1915, Codman served with the Massachusetts State Militia in the Mexican Border War.[2] He attended the first Plattsburgh camp and when the United States entered World War I, Codman was sent to the 151st Depot Brigade at Fort Devens. On December 31, 1917, he was commissioned a first lieutenant and assigned to the Machine Gun Company of 74th Infantry. He was later attached to the headquarters of the 24th Infantry Division as an aide-de-camp to General Adrian Theodore Woodward. He was discharged on February 5, 1919.[4]
Business career
After graduating, Codman worked in the banking and brokerage business before joining his father's real estate firm. Codman served for many years as treasurer and director of Codman & Codman. He became the firm's president in 1956 following the death of his brother, Charles R. Codman. Codman also served as president and director of Congress Street Safe Deposit Vaults.[2]
Politics
A Republican, Codman broke with his party during the 1945 Boston mayoral election to campaign for James Michael Curley. Curley appointed Codman, a fire fighting enthusiast who had volunteered at many multiple alarm fires, to the position of fire commissioner. During his tenure as commissioner, Codman was credited with updating the department and making it one of the best equipped and modern big city fire departments in the U.S. Curley was defeated for reelection in 1949 and Codman was not retained by his successor, John Hynes.[2]
On November 21, 1959, the Japanese government appointed Codman, who was president of the Japan Society of Boston and a member of the Visiting Committee to the Department of Far Eastern Civilization of Harvard University, as an Honorary Consul General for Japan at Boston. Codman's appointment made him the first Japanese representative in Boston since the Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire in 1941.[5] In 1968 he was made a member of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd Class.[2]
In 1925, Codman began pursuing Elinor Medill Patterson, a stage actress who was then playing a nun in Morris Gest's The Miracle and the daughter of publisher Joseph Medill Patterson. On May 25, 1926, the couple eloped in Putnam, Connecticut. Codman wanted Patterson to give up her acting career to become a housewife.[6] Patterson, however, continued her acting career, appearing at the Salzburg Festival and signing with Universal Pictures in 1927. The couple divorced in 1929.[7]
An avid rower, Codman won the 1929 American Henley at Philadelphia and later won the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen's senior singles title.[9]
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