Roxcy Bolton, Feminist Crusader for Equality, Including in Naming Hurricanes, Dies at 90

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Roxcy Bolton in 1972 with Robert H. Simpson, then the director of the National Hurricane Center. She helped persuade national weather forecasters not to name tropical storms after only women. Credit: Associated Press

Roxcy Bolton, a pioneering and tempestuous Florida feminist who was credited with founding the nation’s first rape treatment center and who helped persuade national weather forecasters not to name tropical storms after only women, died on May 17 in Coral Gables, Fla. She was 90.

Her crusade to include men’s names when meteorologists differentiated hurricanes placed her at the eye of an international storm.

Women, Ms. Bolton said at the time, “deeply resent being arbitrarily associated with disaster.” A generation after Ms. Bolton began her campaign, the weathermen finally capitulated. The second hurricane of 1979 was named Bob. When the 2017 season officially begins June 1, Bret, Don, Franklin, Harvey and José will be among the names immortalized.