Sad week and weekend for Barnum Festival Ringmaster Fred Hall. His life partner Pauline Mize, who served for nearly two years as manager of Sikorsky Memorial Airport, passed away Wednesday night in Long Island suffering from cancer. She was 59.
Mize of Bellport, Long Island was appointed acting manager at the airport replacing John Ricci following the fallout over a $400,000 payment involving developer Manny Moutinho’s Stratford mansion driveway as part of a municipally owned airport improvement plan that a state judge ruled city taxpayers had no obligation to pay. Ricci announced his retirement from the city in the summer of 2013.
Mize’s airport experience included managing Gabreski Airport in Westhampton, Long Island. She commuted to Bridgeport from Long Island via the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson ferry, where Hall serves as an executive, that runs multiple times per day from Port Jefferson to Bridgeport.
Steve Ford is running the day-to-day operations of the airport, according to city officials. The Connecticut Post reports a fatal construction accident closed the airport Thursday morning.
Officials say a worker in a trench using a gasoline-powered saw to cut a water main suffered a fatal injury to his neck. Bridgeport and Stratford public safety officers are on the scene.
Condolences to Fred Hall. Terrible day all around.
My sympathies to Fred. Only met Pauline twice but she seemed very nice.