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Carl Coffman has built houses, renovated a signature historic property and led the excavation work on some of Portland's biggest projects. But he hesitates when asked what led him to pursue a career as a developer.
"I still haven't figured out what I want to do. I always knew I didn't want to work for anybody else, though," said Coffman, president of Norway Development.
A native Oregonian, Coffman was born in 1954 in Myrtle Point. He had a bucolic, small-town childhood in which he was second to youngest - and the only boy - in a family of five kids. At Myrtle Point High School, he served as vice president and president of the student body. He discovered that he enjoyed the politics of it, but didn't excel at every presidential duty.
"I think I did the worst job ever on homecoming," he said.
After graduating, Coffman journeyed...