Pauline Phillips
| Pauline Phillips | |
|---|---|
Publicity photo in 1961
|
|
| Born | Pauline Esther Friedman July 4, 1918 Sioux City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | January 16, 2013 (aged 94) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Pen name | Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abby") |
| Occupation | Personal advice columnist, author, radio host |
| Alma mater | Morningside College |
| Spouse | Morton Phillips (m. 1939–2013) |
| Children | Edward Jay Phillips (1945–2011), Jeanne Phillips |
| Relatives | Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer (twin sister) |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Pauline Esther "Popo" Phillips (née Friedman; July 4, 1918 – January 16, 2013), also known as Abigail Van Buren, was an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the Dear Abby column in 1956. During her decades writing the column, it became the most widely syndicated newspaper column in the world, syndicated in 1,400 newspapers with 110 million readers.
From 1963 to 1975, Phillips also hosted a daily Dear Abby program on CBS Radio. TV anchorwoman Diane Sawyer calls her the "pioneering queen of salty advice".
Pauline Esther Friedman, nicknamed "Popo", was born in Sioux City, Iowa to Russian Jewish immigrants, Rebecca (née Rushall) and Abraham B. Friedman, owner of a chain of movie theaters. She was the youngest of four sisters and grew up in Sioux City. Her identical twin, Esther Pauline Friedman (married name Lederer), was columnist Ann Landers. Lederer had become Ann Landers in 1955, and inspired by her sister's example, Phillips soon followed suit by launching her own advice column.
In describing her family's emigration to America, Phillips says, "My parents came with nothing. They all came with nothing." She adds that her parents never forgot first seeing the Statue of Liberty:
It's amazing the impact the lady of the harbor had on them. They always held her dear, all their lives.
Her sister, Esther, recalls their home life: "My father was the sort of man people came to for advice. My mother couldn't turn away anyone with a hard-luck story. Our house was always full of guests." Phillips agrees, and understood that her parents had a clear effect on her own personality:
I was cocky. My contemporaries would come to me for advice. I got that from my mother: the ability to listen and to help other people with their problems. I also got Daddy's sense of humor.
They are both alumnae of Central High School in Sioux City and Morningside College, where they both studied journalism and psychology, along with writing a joint gossip column for the college newspaper. They both played the violin. In July 1939, they were married in a double-wedding ceremony on July 2, two days before their 21st birthday [Source: Eppie: The Story of Ann Landers, by Margo Howard (her daughter), p. 45.]. She married Morton Phillips of Minneapolis, and had two children, a son, Edward Jay Phillips, and a daughter, Jeanne Phillips.
...
Wikipedia