‘Dear Abby’ Dies — And Ab Cahan Weeps
Pauline Phillips, who wrote the ‘Dear Abby’ advice column, died yesterday at the age of 94.
The daughter of Russian immigrants was born on the Fourth of July in Iowa and learned the lexicon of everyday middle American life growing up in the heartland. Her advice was always sharp, witty and sound — and her audience swelled into the tens of millions.
Before Phillips’ birth in 1918, Forward editor Ab Cahan was credited with virtually creating the advice column genre with the Bintel Brief. That column helped make the Forverts indispensible reading to Jewish immigrants and a central pillar of Jewish life in New York in the early part of the last century.
I believe Cahan would have been a fan of Phillip’s work, which was rooted in the everyday concerns of her tens of millions of readers.
He would have mourned her. We mourn her.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!