Advice Columnist Ann Landers, 1918-2002

Ann Landers, the columnist whose plainspoken and timely advice helped millions of readers deal with everything from birth to death, died of cancer on June 22 at the age of 83.

The daily column of Landers, whose real name was Esther Lederer, first appeared in print October 16, 1955, in the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1993, she was the world's most widely syndicated columnist, appearing in more than 1,200 newspapers worldwide with 90 million readers daily. Her twin sister, Pauline, followed her into the profession as writer of the Dear Abby column.

The feisty, outspoken Landers was a housewife when she won the Sun-Times contest to become the second Ann Landers after the woman who created the column died. At the end of her career, she was a with-it great-grandmother whose name often appeared on lists of the country's most influential women.

John W. Madigan, chairman and CEO of Tribune Co. said "She helped people with her advice, and made important contributions to society through the causes she supported.

Psychology Today once gave her credit for likely having more influence on the way people work out their problems than any other person of her era. "All the column means to me is an opportunity to do good in the world," she said in a 1993 interview with that magazine.

When she began her column, newspaper editors forbade her from talking about homosexuality. However, in later years, there were virtually no taboos: In an October 24, 1993, column, for example, she endorsed masturbation or mutual masturbation as a safe, realistic alternative to abstinence for everyone from teens to the elderly.

She made headlines and inspired countless water cooler debates in 1985 when she asked women readers whether they prefer tenderness and cuddling or sexual intercourse. Some 90,000 readers sent in responses, and 72 percent voted for cuddling, she reported.

She answered hundreds of letters a day from the office in her high-rise North Side apartment, dispensing thoroughly modern advice by typewriter because she just didn't like computers.

The daughter of Russian immigrants, she was born Esther "Eppie" Friedman on July 4, 1918, in Sioux City, Iowa, 17 minutes before her twin sister. When Pauline became Dear Abby, her older sister was so angry they reportedly feuded several years before reconciling.

Landers married Jules Lederer, who helped found Budget-Rent-A-Car, in 1939 -- in a gown matching that of her sister, who got married that same day.

They divorced in 1975, a decision Landers announced in "the most difficult column I have ever tried to put together."

"How did it happen that something so good didn't last forever? The lady with all the answers does not know the answer to this one." Lederer died in January 1999.

Her long career was not without controversy. In 1982 she made headlines when it was revealed that she had recycled old material in her columns.

And her headstrong views got her into hot water in 1993, when she issued a national apology for adding her own inflammatory remarks to a letter from a charity watchdog group. Two years later, she apologized for calling Pope John Paul II a "polack."

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Khorsheed.com - Jul 2002