When Helen Gurley Brown was brought in to run Cosmopolitan in 1965, the magazine was failing. When she relinquished her duties in 1997, the once fledgling endeavor was one of the ten most read publications in the United States. With wit, charisma and bold advice, Gurley Brown not only made her bosses a lot of money, she also played a significant role in the sexual revolution, encouraging women to shoot for a balance of love, sex and money.
The beloved author and editor passed away at McKeen Pavilion at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia earlier today. She was ninety-years-old and by all accounts, brilliant until the end. Following her ouster as editor-in-chief, she continued to manage Cosmo’s foreign publications, though the magazine definitely will not go down as her only worthwhile achievement.
Gurley Brown, then just Gurley, began her career as a secretary for an ad agency in the late 1950s. Within a few years, she was promoted to copywriter and a few years after that, she was one of the highest paid copywriters in the world. In 1959, she married legendary producer David Brown, best known for Jaws and The Sting, and began working on her bestselling book Sex and the Single Girl. The guide covered things as scandalous as having affairs and as domestic as sewing, and it became an overnight sensation, selling million of copies its first month in print.
Best known for shaking up the status quo, Gurley Brown’s relationship to her husband wound up being decidedly old fashioned. The two were married for more than fifty years until his death in 2010, a testament to dedication and love.
Pop Blend’s thoughts go out to all those touched by Gurley Brown’s extraordinary life. Her voice will be missed.
