Dollie Cole Dies at 84

Dollie Cole, the larger-than-life wife of former General Motors Co. President Ed Cole, died on Sunday in Texas at age 84.

A relentlessly outspoken defender of the auto industry, she followed the business closely and was never shy about challenging its critics or befriending its supporters.

Cole was a former model, magazine senior editor, auto test driver, airplane pilot, book author (Piston Power by Motor Mouth), venture capitalist and society doyen. Her marriage to Ed Cole, then a group vice president, in 1964 was the second for both.

Born in Texas, she returned there after her husband died in an airplane crash in 1977.

She was a founding director of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., and served two terms as its chair. She also was a past co-chair of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.