Molly Kool, 93, who in the 1930s and ’40s plied the lashing waters of the Bay of Fundy as the first woman in North America to be a licensed ship’s captain, died Wednesday at her home in Bangor, Maine.
A native of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, Kool was known familiarly throughout her life as Captain Molly. She qualified as a captain at age 23, and she spent the next five years in command of the Jean K, her father’s 70-foot engine- and sail-driven scow. In 2006, she was officially recognized by the Canadian government as the first woman to hold captain’s papers.
Hauling cargo up and down the Bay of Fundy and as far afield as Boston, Kool faced rain and fog, fire and ice, and the violent tides for which the bay is known. She also earned the disbelief, disdain and, eventually, respect of her rough-hewn male colleagues.
Sverre Fehn, 84, the Norwegian architect whose unique style of blending modern forms with Scandinavian traditions earned him the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, died in Oslo on Feb. 23, his grandson Jacob Fehn said.
Fehn graduated from the Architectural School of Oslo in 1949. He received international acclaim in 1958 with his Norwegian Pavilion at the Brussels World Exhibition and in 1962 with his Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Most of Fehn’s works are in Norway, including the white concrete Glacier Museum, which has been hailed as a landmark within contemporary architecture. Completed in 1991, it stands on a plain carved by Norway’s Jostedal Glacier at Fjaerland Fjord.
