Kevin Coates Haley

Born in Orange County, California on October 28, 1970, Kevin was the middle of three sons of Steven and Linda Coates Haley. He grew up in San Diego, where countless days at the beach and summers at water sports camp led to a lifelong love of the water.

Bright, curious, enthusiastic, and confident, Kevin was never content with the status quo. Always looking for a better, more efficient way of doing things, Kevin had critiques and theories on everything. Whether it was building a better business, designing a system or special gadget to make everyday life easier, or making the perfect pizza crust, Kevin was able to identify the issue and volunteer to find a solution.

His commitment to innovation began early, when he and his best friend, Bob, at age 14, invented the “Yuma Snagger”, a device for retrieving baseballs from under the fence at Spring Training Camp. Kevin would continue to nurture that spirit throughout his life.

Kevin graduated from Valhalla High School in 1989 and went on to earn his undergraduate degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering (1993) and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (1994) from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. After college he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he began his career at Procter and Gamble and met his lifelong friend and business partner, Steve. Throughout his career, Kevin worked at both large companies and start-ups, always drawn to places where his vision could make a difference.

While in Baltimore, Kevin bought his first home and promptly began renovating it himself. Undaunted and confident, he discovered a lifelong passion for home renovation. There was nothing he didn’t believe he could build, fix, or improve and he was almost always right.

In 1995, Kevin met the love of his life, Susan (Cooper) Haley, when she and a group of friends, including his roommate’s sister, were passing through Baltimore on a college Spring Break trip and the two immediately hit it off. Everyone knew she was “the one” when she unwittingly made Kevin mashed potatoes and he ate them despite them being a “filler food”. On May 2, 1998, Susan and Kevin were married in her hometown of Austin, Texas.

Kevin and Susan spent the early years of their marriage living and working in Baltimore, sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, and renovating yet another home – transforming an average row house in a transitioning neighborhood into something truly special. Eventually, they moved to Austin to start a family. In 2004 twins, Cameron and Coates, were born followed one year later by their sister, Cate. The family moved from Central Austin to Lakeway in 2009 and eventually settled in a house on the water.

Kevin was a loving and devoted father waking up before 6am to entertain the early risers and, helping come up with systems to manage 3 active kids. When Cameron needed new music for her gymnastic floor exercise, Kevin learned about all of the requirements and cut her music for her performances. When Cate needed more protein to survive long volleyball tournament days, Kevin concocted a system for preparing flavor-full “Volleyball Breakfasts” from the hotel room (hamburgers or spaghetti cooked on a hot plate). He was the go-to dad for all the volleyball stats for Cate’s team and their competition. Coates and Kevin shared a love of movies and a to-do list and watched movie series in sequence like the Marvel movies. He enjoyed teaching the kids to water ski, wake board, and surf, and spent hours pulling them on the inner tube. He reveled in their successes and was there to listen and offer thoughtful advice during difficult times. He was immensely proud of all three.

Kevin treasured taking ski trips with his brothers to Lake Tahoe and hosting family reunions on Lake Travis. He had a contagious energy that was fun to be around. We will miss his curiosity, his humor, his confidence, and his single-minded pursuit of better ways—along with the laughter, love, and energy he brought to everyone around him.

Kevin is preceded in death by his father, Steven Haley. He is survived by his wife, Susan, children, Coates, Cameron, and Cate, mother, Linda Haley, brothers Russ Haley and Scott Haley (wife Tara), sisters-in-law Nina Cooper King (husband Kevin) Catherine Cooper Hay (husband Mike), mother and father in law, Ann and Don Cooper, and many nieces and nephews.

Memorial services will be held at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 5416 Parkcrest Dr, Austin, TX, on Friday, February 6 at 2:00pm. The family requests in lieu of flowers, donations in Kevin’s name be sent to MD Anderson or the charity of your choice.