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n her 80s, Ruth Kajander took
two of her grandchildren to
visit the Eiffel Tower. They
could have taken an elevator to
the top, her grandson Robin Fie-
dler recalled, but Dr. Kajander
had no interest in taking the easy
way. She climbed the stairs, keep-
ing up with her then-teenage
grandsons.
“I think part of it was wanting
to prove to herself and to her
younger grandkids that that’s
something she was still capable
of doing,” Mr. Fiedler said.
Dr. Kajander proved her mettle
on that trip, as she did through-
out her long, extraordinary life,
which saw her graduate from
medical school in postwar Ger-
many and eventually become a
trailblazer in the field of psychia-
try and a member of the Order of
Canada.
She died on Nov. 8 in Thunder
Bay at the age of 95. Those close to
her remember her as caring but
tough, with an extraordinary in-
tellect to match her tenacity.
Born on Aug. 15, 1924, in Goet-
tingen, Germany, Ruth Elisabeth
Emelia Auguste Koeppe came
from a long line of scientists and
physicians. The daughter of Else
(née Corman) and Hanskurt
Koeppe, she and her two younger
brothers grew up in an aristocrat-
ic family that lost its wealth
around the Second World War.
The family was uprooted repeat-
edly, as her father, who joined the
resistance movement, kept losing
his job because he was not a
member of the Nazi Party. He was
later shot to death, while her mid-
dle brother broke away to join the
Nazis.
By the time she was in her
teens, she and her youngest
brother and mother found them-
selves in Berlin as Allied forces
advanced. Worried about the
safety of her teenage daughter,
her mother urged her to leave the
city, without the family, on bicy-
cle.
Dodging gunfire, she made the
300-kilometre journey back to
her hometown of Goettingen. In
1948, she graduated from medical
school at Giessen University.
A swift and tumultuous mar-
riage to a Finnish man brought
her to Finland, where again she
took medical exams to obtain a li-
cence. But shortly after giving
birth to the couple’s son, Aleksei
Jakovlew, she was forced to flee
the marriage, leaving the infant
behind. He reconnected with his
mother many years later.
With Europe still hobbling af-
ter the war, she made her way to
Canada, where she went through
medical training anew, and spe-
cialized in psychiatry. At the time,
however, Canada was an inhos-
pitable place for a young female
immigrant doctor, according to
Sam Sussman, author ofDr. Ruth
Kajander, A Pioneer in Canadian
Psychiatry.She endured a great
deal of discrimination, including
from peers and superiors who
were determined to “cut her
down to size,” he said.
In 1953, she became the first fe-
male intern at the Oshawa Gener-
al Hospital, Dr. Sussman said.
There, she learned about the drug
chlorpromazine (known by the
brand name Largactil), which
was used as a kind of preanesthet-
ic, given to patients before ad-
ministering an anesthetic. She
noticed the drug sedated pa-
tients, but did not put them to
sleep.
After her one-year internship,
she got a job as a resident at the
London Psychiatric Hospital,
where she sought the medical su-
perintendent’s permission to use
chlorpromazine on an experi-
mental basis, to see how it would
work, Dr. Sussman said. They
tried the drug on an agitated pa-
tient, for whom no other inter-ventions seemed to have an ef-
fect.
“And that’s where the story be-
gins,” Dr. Sussman said. “He
calmed down.”
The drug was later used not on-
ly to sedate psychiatric patients,
but as a form of treatment for
those with delusions, he said. To-
day, it is still used for various con-
ditions, including schizophrenia.
In psychiatry, where early ex-
perimental treatments included
an array of noxious substances,
including opium, the use of chlor-
promazine spread quickly and it
became “like penicillin for the
mentally ill,” Dr. Sussman said.
Although the young female
doctor was the first to use the
drug on psychiatric patients in
Ontario, credit for this ground-
breaking contribution to the field
went to psychiatrist Heinz Leh-
mann, who, unbeknownst to her,
was experimenting with the drug
in Montreal around the same
time.
Her use of chlorpromazine
may have slightly preceded Dr.
Lehmann’s, said colleague John
Deadman, associate clinical pro-
fessor in the department of psy-chiatry and behavioural neuros-
ciences at McMaster University.
“However, because her actions
did not follow the usual, what
you would call ‘scientific rigma-
role,’ I think that’s one of the rea-
sons why the London Psychiatric
Hospital didn’t make too much of
it at the time,” Dr. Deadman said.
“That doesn’t take away from her
achievement.”
Upon hearing that a new psy-
chiatric facility was opening in
Port Arthur, Ont. (now Thunder
Bay), she took on the job of lead-
ing it, becoming the founding di-
rector of the Port Arthur Mental
Health Clinic.
There, at a social function, she
introduced herself to Aatto Ar-
thur Kajander, a successful local
lawyer and prominent member
of the area’s large Finnish com-
munity. Mr. Kajander, who at the
age of 40 was an eligible bachelor,
had vowed to give a case of Cham-
pagne to anyone who introduced
him to his future wife, according
to their daughter, Ann Kajander.
Long after the two married in
1957, Dr. Kajander jokingly com-
plained that her husband owed
her that case of Champagne.Dr. Kajander started a private
practice out of the ground floor of
the family’s home, which, Ann
Kajander recalled, operated like
clockwork. Meals were always
served on time by a housekeeper,
and were often consumed over
cerebral conversations about his-
tory and politics. Official func-
tions were also frequently held at
the house, as Mr. Kajander served
as honorary consul of Finland for
roughly 35 years.
In 1959, the couple had their
first child together, a baby boy,
born with serious health prob-
lems, Ann Kajander said. Al-
though surgery might have pro-
longed his life, Dr. Kajander de-
clined, and he died days later.
While her husband was devas-
tated, Dr. Kajander was pragmatic
about the loss.
“My mom had experienced a
lot more grief and tragedy,” Ann
Kajander said. “To her, it was just
nature’s mistake, and that was it.”
A year later, Ann was born. The
couple had no other children.
Because of her directness, Dr.
Kajander came across as unsym-
pathetic to some, but her family –
which included three grandchil-
dren, Arthur, Robin and Maria –
also saw a soft and deeply caring
side of her.
Her grandson Arthur Fiedler
said he has fond memories of
spending hours with her, playing
cribbage and rummy, reading
side by side and talking about ev-
erything from politics to femi-
nism and sharing views on death
and marriage.
Ann Kajander said her mother
once darted off one Christmas
Day to help a woman who was su-
icidal. Every subsequent Christ-
mas, the woman sent her a large
bouquet with a note, thanking
her for saving her life.
Dr. Kajander was the first fe-
male president of the Ontario
Psychiatric Association in 1982,
and one of the first women ac-
tively involved in the Ontario
Medical Association.
She was named a member of
the Order of Canada in 2011 for
her care of patients with psychiat-
ric illnesses in Northern Ontario.
After the death of her husband in
1998, she was named to the Order
of the Lion, Knight First Class, a
prestigious honour from the
Finnishgovernment.
But for her grandsons, that trip
to the Eiffel Tower stands out be-
cause her approach to the ardu-
ous climb mirrored her approach
to life.
“She always went for it – phys-
ically, mentally, everything,” Ar-
thur Fiedler said. “She said, ‘I’ve
worked for everything I’ve gotten
through all these tough times,
and you don’t complain through
the tough times. You just do it.’ ”RUTHKAJANDER
DOCTOR,95PSYCHIATRISTWASAPIONEER
INSCHIZOPHRENIATREATMENT
Shewasatthecuttingedgeofpsychopharmacologyinheruseofchlorpromazine,
aneffectivedrugnowconsideredtobe‘likepenicillinforthementallyill’WENCYLEUNGHEALTHREPORTER
Dr.RuthKajanderreceivedanOrderofCanadain2011forherworktreatingpatients
withpsychiatricillnessesinNorthernOntario.COURTESYOFTHEFAMILYJ
ake Burton Carpenter, who
helped propel snowboarding
from hobby to a global sport
over the past four decades, has
died of complications from recur-
ring cancer, his company said on
Thursday.
He was 65.
Mr. Carpenter, who was also
known as Jake Burton, died on
Wednesday surrounded by family
and loved ones, his Vermont-
based company, Burton Snow-
boards, said on a recorded phone
message.
“He was our founder, the soul
of snowboarding, the one who
gave us the sport that we all love
so much.
“Ride on, Jake,” the company
said.
Mr. Carpenter was 14 when he
received a Snurfer, a surf-type
board used by snow-sport enthu-
siasts to rip down hills, and be-
came fascinated by the concept of
surfing on snow, according to the
U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of
Fame.
Mr. Carpenter launched his
company in 1977 in his London-
derry, Vt., barn where he built his
first boards by hand.
Burton is now a global snow-
board, accessory and apparel
company that has sponsored top
athletes such as three-time Win-
ter Olympic gold medalist Shaun
White and international competi-
tions.
“Burton served a pivotal role in
growing snowboarding from a
backyard hobby to a world-classsport,” the company said on its
website about its founder.
In 2012, the Vermont Sports
Hall of Fame inducted Mr. Car-
penter, saying he made “many of
the company’s biggest decisions
from a chairlift, not a desk.”
Since taking part in the first
snowboarding competition in
1981, Mr. Carpenter advocated for
ski areas to open their lifts to
trails to board riders.
He also helped organize the
first U.S. Open Snowboarding
Championship in 1982 at the Sui-
cide Six ski area, an event that
was held in Vermont for the next
30 years.
Burton’s advocacy culminated
in snowboarding becoming a
Winter Olympics sport in 1988.REUTERSJAKEBURTONCARPENTER
COMPANYFOUNDER,65Formerskiierturnedentrepreneurtooksnowboardingfromhobbytoglobalsport
BRENDANO’BRIEN
JakeBurtonCarpenter,ownerofBurtonSnowboards,showsanearly
model,right,andoneofthenewersnowboards,left,in2002inhisoffice
inBurlington,Vt.ALDENPELLETT/ASSOCIATEDPRESS