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Ann Landers
Esther Pauline “Eppie” Lederer née Friedman (July 4, 1918 - June 22, 2002), better known by the pen name Ann Landers, was an American advice columnist and eventually a nationwide m...view moreEsther Pauline “Eppie” Lederer née Friedman (July 4, 1918 - June 22, 2002), better known by the pen name Ann Landers, was an American advice columnist and eventually a nationwide media celebrity. She began writing the “Ask Ann Landers” column in 1955 and continued for 47 years, by which time its readership was 90 million people. A 1978 World Almanac survey named her the most influential woman in the United States. She was the identical twin sister of Pauline Phillips, who wrote the “Dear Abby” advice column as Abigail Van Buren.
Born in Sioux City, Iowa, Esther Pauline and her identical twin sister Pauline Esther (“Popo”, who was 17 minutes younger) were daughters of Russian Jewish immigrants Rebecca Friedman (née Rushall) and Abraham B. Friedman. They grew up in Sioux City and attended its Morningside College for three and a half years (1936-1939), where they wrote a gossip column for the college’s newspaper. Eppie majored in journalism and psychology.
Ruth Crowley, the creator of the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ask Ann Landers column, died in 1955. During her nine years writing the column, intermittently from 1943, Crowley’s identity had been kept secret. Lederer won a contest to take over the column later that year, and took on the identity. Long before the end of her 47 years as Ann Landers, she had become a North American media celebrity, having appeared on television and traveled the continent to media and charity events.
Lederer was a profile-raiser for several medical charities, and in 1977 President Carter appointed her to a six-year term on a cancer advisory board.
She died of multiple myeloma in Chicago in 2002, aged 83.view less