Arthur Philemon Coleman was born in Lachute, Quebec, on April 4, 1852. For most of his professional life he taught at Victoria College, part of the University of Toronto, and spent a great deal of time adventuring throughout western Canada. In all, Coleman and his Morley, Alberta-based brother, Lucius Quincy Coleman made eight successive trips to The Canadian Rockies. Coleman was in his 80s on his last trip. He died in 1939 never having climbed Mount Robson, the object of his mountaineering obsession.