Helen Gurley Brown, Legendary Cosmo Mag Editor, Dead at 90

Brown, a Los Angeles native, became a famed author in 1962 with the publication of her the bestselling self-help book, Sex and the Single Girl. In 1965, Brown became editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, a failing title at Hearst that the new editor swiftly revitalized.

For a younger generation of women, Cosmo may be little more than a guilty pleasure, but the fact is the publication, under the leadership of Brown, revolutionized the industry of women’s magazines.