Florence Chadwick

American swim champion and stockbroker, she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. On August 8, 1950 she broke Gertrude Ederle's speed record for the England to France run; a year later she began in France and swam successfully to England. In 1953 and 1955, she again swam the Channel becoming the first woman to complete the journey four times. In 1952 and 1953 she set other records for speed in the Catalina Channel and the Straits of Gibraltar. Chadwick worked as a stockbroker and became vice president of First Wall Street Corporation in San Diego

She died March 15, 1995 after an unspecified long illness.