NORWOOD—Richard Cory Kugler, 85, of Westport, died in the early hours of Monday, March 28, in Norwood, MA.
Born in Winchester in 1930 and raised in Winchester and Westport, he was the son of William Alexander Kugler and Louise Austin Kugler. He graduated from Winchester High School (1948), Amherst College (1952), and Harvard University (1953), earning degrees in history and American studies. From 1953 to 1955 he served in the US Army, stationed in La Rochelle, France, and northern Italy. After discharge, he rode a Zündapp motorcycle from Italy to Pakistan and then went on by boat to India. Upon his return to the US, he taught history at Johns Hopkins and served as a historian at the US Department of Defense in Washington, DC (1963-1967).
He married Jeanne Elizabeth Hansen in 1964 and not long after returned to the Massachusetts coast, settling in New Bedford and serving as director of the New Bedford Whaling Museum from 1967 to 1988. In that role, he mounted nationally acclaimed exhibits, including one on the painter and explorer William Bradford, whose portraits of the ships in New Bedford Harbor highlighted that city’s rich past as a whaling capital and flourishing seaport. Another exhibit, "Men of Color, to Arms!”, portrayed the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first African-American units in the United States, whose soldiers, many of them New Bedford natives, fought courageously at Fort Wagner during the Civil War. He was the author of New Bedford and Old Dartmouth: A Portrait of a Region’s Past, WIlliam Bradford: Sailing Ships & Arctic Seas, as well as journal articles and exhibition catalogues on William Allen Wall and others.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Elizabeth H. Kugler of Dartmouth; a brother, Robert A. Kugler of Westport; a sister, Louise Bush of Painted Post, NY; four children, Elena Sands, Elizabeth Kugler, Anne Kugler, and Richard Anthony Kugler; seven grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Another brother, William A. Kugler, died several years ago.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 2, at 11 o’clock in the morning at the Westport Point United Methodist Church, 1912 Main Road in Westport.
Memorial donations may be made to the Westport Land Conservation Trust, P.O. Box 3975 / 830 Drift Road, Westport, MA 02790 (www.westportlandtrust.org).