orig. Esther Pauline Friedman
born July 4, 1918, Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.
died June 22, 2002, Chicago, Ill.
U.S. newspaper columnist.
She took over an advice column in the Chicago Sun-Times in 1955, adopting her now-familiar pseudonym, and made it into the most widely syndicated advice column in the U.S.; by the early 21st century her column appeared in more than 1,200 newspapers and had some 90 million readers. Her twin sister, Pauline, has written the competitive and equally well-known "Dear Abby" advice column (originally for the San Francisco Chronicle ) since 1956.