Chicago actress dies after being struck by tree

This photo provided by Cathy Taylor Public Relations, Inc., shows Molly Glynn. Glynn, an accomplished Chicago theater actress who also played a recurring role as a doctor on the TV series “Chicago Fire,” has died after a tree toppled by a powerful storm struck her as she rode her bike in a forest park. Glynn’s husband called the emergency dispatcher just before 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5, 2014, to say his wife had been injured, Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said. She was 46. AP/Cathy Taylor Public Relations, Inc.

CHICAGO – Molly Glynn, an accomplished Chicago theater actress who also played a recurring role as a doctor on the TV series “Chicago Fire,” has died after a tree toppled by a powerful storm struck her as she rode her bike in a forest park. She was 46.

Glynn was with her husband, Joe Foust, when the storm rolled quickly into the area, just north of Chicago, the executive director of First Folio Theatre and a close family friend, David Rice, said Sunday.

“Molly was one of the most loving and generous people in the Chicago theater scene,” he said. “She was incredibly talented — incredibly versatile. She could handle both comedy and the deepest, darkest dramas.”

Glynn’s husband called the emergency dispatcher just before 4 p.m. on Friday to say his wife had been injured, Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said. NorthShore Evanston Hospital spokeswoman Colette Urban confirmed Glynn died Saturday.

Glynn had an audition earlier in the day Friday and she and her husband had decided to go for a ride. The inclement weather took them by surprise and the tree slammed into Glynn as the couple sought to ride to safety, Rice said.

“It was a freak accident and a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.

Others in the theater community in and around Chicago also expressed shock and sadness.

“It is an incalculable loss,” said Michael Halberstam, the artistic director of the Glencoe-based Writers Theatre. “She was a loving mother and wife and everyone who met her fell in love with her.”

Glynn grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, Rice said. In addition to her husband, she is also survived by two teenage sons.