Kathleen Margaret Cole

Kathleen "Kay" Margaret Cole (1924, Vancouver – 12 April 2003, Vancouver) was a Canadian phycologist, known as one of the world's leading experts in the cytology of marine algae. In 1998 the Canadian Botanical Society awarded her the George Lawson Medal for lifetime achievement.

Biography
After her early childhood years in Wells, British Columbia, Kathleen Margaret Cole moved with her family to West Vancouver. At the University of British Columbia (UBC). she graduated in biology with a B.A. in 1947 and an M.A. in 1948. ' Her M.A. thesis is entitled A study of a possible new mutation, synpalpi, occurring in Drosophila melanogaster. She matriculated as a graduate student in genetics at Smith College. There she completed in 1952 her Ph.D. in plant genetics under the supervision of Albert F. Blakeslee. Her Ph.D. dissertation deals with the genetics of the invasive weed Datura stramonium.

Kathleen M. Cole spent her career at UBC. She joined the department of biology and botany in 1952 as a lecturer and was eventually promoted to full professor. During the late 1950s, she spent one summer at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories. There she used cytological techniques to experiment on marine algae. This research established the focus of the remainder of her career and her work with her graduate students and other collaborators.

From 1972 to 1977, Cole was an editor for the journal Phycologia. She was the co-editor with Robert G. Sheath of the 1990 book Biology of the Red Algae. The book is an important authoritative reference and survey of research from 1973 to 1989 on the phylum Rhodophyta. The book was reissued in 2011.

She was excellent as a contralto singer. During her years as a UBC student, she performed in many concerts and in Vancouver on radio broadcasts. As a UBC faculty member, she was active in the university's Music Society.