Ann Landers Dies At 83

By: Maura Kelly, Associated Press Writer (AP) The Ann Landers' advice column written for nearly five decades by Esther Lederer will end now that Lederer has died, her daughter said Sunday.

A new column called Ann's Mailbox will be written by two of her close associates.

"She owned the copyright and she did not wish for the name to continue," Margo Howard said of her mother. "She felt it was very much associated with her. That name will not continue."

Lederer died Saturday at the age of 83. Her death from multiple myeloma came less than two weeks before her July 4 birthday.

A farewell column written by Howard will be distributed Monday, Lederer's syndicator, Creators Syndicate of Los Angeles, said in a statement Sunday.

Ann Landers columns that Lederer had already completed will run through July 27. "That will be the last column with Ann Landers' byline," said Richard S. Newcombe, president of Creators Syndicate.

Creators will provide two new advice columns, one written by Howard, who has been writing the column Dear Prudence for the online magazine "Slate," the company said.

The new daily Ann's Mailbox will be written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, both longtime editors of Ann Landers.

Howard, of Cambridge, Mass., said her mother's columns resonated with readers because she wrote about topics that others often shied away from while dispensing advice that was never stale.

"She was very brave about what she chose to get behind and she went public about some issues that other people wouldn't have," Howard said. "She was able to change with the times. There was nothing dated about her opinions. She just made it her business to stay current."

Lederer, who was known as Eppie, tackled issues such as homosexuality, abortion and AIDS in the column she started writing in 1955 in the Chicago Sun-Times. She switched syndication companies in 1987 and the column moved to the Chicago Tribune.

"She was the gold standard for advice columnists because she took it seriously. She made it her business to be very serious," said Howard.

Lederer's twin sister, Pauline Esther "PoPo" Phillips, also known as Abigail Van Buren, followed her into the profession as writer of the Dear Abby column.

David Grossvogel, a Cornell University professor who did a computer analysis of 10,000 of Lederer's columns for his 1986 book, "Dear Ann Landers: Our Intimate and Changing Dialogue with America's Best-Loved Confidante," said Lederer broke ground with her column.

"She was among the very first to actually respond to people who had specific problems that would not normally have been allowed in print," Grossvogel said. "She lived through an age of very rapid changes. Since she touched on all of them, her impact was very widespread. Her skill was in simply moving abreast of the times."

Lederer wrote in a way that gave readers the feeling she was talking with them individually, Grossvogel said.

"She would be as interested in the big problems of the world as she was in tiny little concerns that agitated people such as which way toilet paper should be hung," he said.

Bob Greene, a syndicated columnist for the Tribune, said Lederer knew how to connect with readers through her words.

"There was just no wall between Eppie and her readers. It just went directly from her to them. It's magic and she had it," said Greene, a colleague and friend of Lederer.

Howard said she was touched by the outpouring of support following her mother's death.

"There are many generations who felt that she was their mother," she said. "She cared about them. It was just woven into the language. People understood who she was and where she was coming from."

Lederer did not want a memorial service.

"She really didn't want to bother anybody. She didn't want to put anybody out," Howard said. "She said: 'Let everyone say a little prayer privately.'"