An era ends: Landers column will also die
Author dispensed advice 5 decades
By Maura Kelly
Associated Press
CHICAGO - Ann Landers resonated with readers for nearly five decades because she evolved with the times, wrote about topics that others shied away from and never let her advice get stale, her daughter said Sunday.
While Esther Lederer won a contest to become the second Ann Landers after the column's creator died, it will not be carried on by another writer after Lederer's death Saturday.
"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."
Instead, a new column called Ann's Mailbox will be written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of Ann Landers.
Lederer died at age 83 from multiple myeloma, less than two weeks before her July 4 birthday. A farewell column written by Howard will be distributed today, according to Lederer's syndicator, Creators Syndicate of Los Angeles.
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 Newcombe,president of Creators Syndicate.
