OBIT

Helen Gurley Brown Dies at 90

Legendary Cosmopolitan editor ‘true pioneer.’

Long before Sex and the City introduced us to its unabashedly sexual female icon, Samantha Jones, there was Helen Gurley Brown. The author and longtime editor in chief of Cosmopolitan passed away Monday morning at age 90, Hearst, the magazine's publisher, confirmed in a statement. Known for her outspoken advocacy of women’s sexual freedom and right to have it all (“love, sex, and money,” in her words), Brown was 40 when, in 1962, she published her bestselling Sex and the Single Girl, an advice book that encouraged women to experience the joys of sex before marriage. She was editor at Cosmopolitan from 1965 until 1997, and afterward remained at Hearst as editor in chief of all Cosmo international editions. In a statement released Monday, Hearst called her a “true pioneer for women in journalism—and beyond.”