Iconic Author and Editor Helen Gurley Brown Dead at 90

The formidable and unforgettable Helen Gurley Brown died earlier today in New York. She was 90 years old.

Gurley Brown was best known as the author of Sex and the Single Girl, published in 1962 when she was 40.

In 1965 she became editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, a position she held until 1997 when she was replaced by Bonnie Fuller. Gurley Brown remained with Hearst as international editor of all 59 editions of Cosmo and visited the 57th Street offices of Hearst daily until her death.

In a statement issued earlier today, Frank A. Bennack, Jr., CEO of the Hearst Corporation, remembered Gurley Brown gracefully. “Helen Gurley Brown was an icon,” Bennack said. “Her formula for honest and straightforward advice about relationships, career and beauty revolutionized the magazine industry. She lived every day of her life to the fullest and will always be remembered as the quintessential ‘Cosmo girl.’ She will be greatly missed.”