Bess Myerson

Bess Myerson
Myerson in 1957
Miss America 1945
Preceded by	Venus Ramey
Succeeded by	Marilyn Buferd
Miss New York 1945
Preceded by	Bobby MacAdam
Succeeded by	June Jenkins
Commissioner of New York City Department of Consumer Affairs
In office 1969–1973
Appointed by	John V. Lindsay
Preceded by	Gerard Maxwell Weisberg as Commissioner of Public Markets
Personal details
Born	July 16, 1924 The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Died	December 14, 2014 (aged 90) Santa Monica, California
Nationality	United States
Height	5'10"
Spouse(s)	Allan Wayne Arnold M. Grant
Children	Barra Grant
Alma mater	Hunter College
Occupation	Model, city commissioner, TV show celebrity
Known for	Only Jewish American and first Miss New York selected as Miss America
Religion	Judaism

Bess Myerson (July 16, 1924 – December 14, 2014) was an American politician, model and television actress who was crowned Miss America in 1945. She became a city commissioner in 1969, beginning a prominent New York political career. In the late 1980s, her career ended amid personal and professional scandal.

At the time of her death, Myerson was the only Jewish Miss America. She won the Miss America beauty pageant at a time when World War II had just ended. Her winning the title took on heightened significance in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, and was seen as an affirmation of the Jewish place in American life. At the time, she was seen as "a hero to the Jewish community". Myerson biographer Susan Dworkin said that "In the Jewish community, she was the most famous pretty girl since Queen Esther."

Myerson was seen frequently on television during the 1950s and 1960s, and was a regular on the celebrity quiz show I've Got a Secret. She was a commissioner in the New York City government in two administrations and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate from New York in 1980. Her career in the public eye ended in the late 1980s, when she and two other defendants were tried in federal court on bribery and conspiracy charges, in a highly publicized trial that ended with her acquittal.

Myerson was born in The Bronx, New York to Jewish parents Louis Myerson and Bella (née Podell), who were immigrants from Russia. Myerson's father worked as a housepainter, handyman, and carpenter. After Myerson's birth, the family moved from the South Bronx to Sholem Aleichem Houses, a cooperative apartment complex in the northern Bronx. She had three siblings: a younger sister, Helen; an older sister, Sylvia; and a brother, Joseph, who died at the age of three before Myerson was born.

Her upbringing emphasized the importance of scholarship, not physical beauty. In addition to tradesmen, her neighbors included poets, writers, and artists. Myerson reached her adult height when she was 12, towered over other children, and has said she felt "awkward and gawky" during her preadolescence. Myerson recalled one of her worst childhood memories was playing the Popeye character, Olive Oyl, in an elementary school play.

...
Wikipedia