Dear Abby -- the advice columnist who was credited with dispensing "uncommon common sense" to millions of readers throughout the world -- has died at age 94 after a decade-long bout with Alzheimer's. Generations grew up taking advice from Pauline Friedman Phillips, who wrote the long-running "Dear Abby" column under the pen name of Abigail Van Buren.
Described by the New York Times in its obituary as "flinty," Phillips -- twin sister of advice columnist Ann Landers -- was a California housewife who said she wanted to do something more meaningful than just play mah-jongg; she wrote her way into the lives of millions, dispensing advice about everything from relationships, raising kids and dealing with in-laws.
Her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, took over the column "unofficially in 1987 and officially in 2000," according to The Times. Dear Abby appears in approximately 1,400 newspapers worldwide and has a daily readership of more than 110 million, which includes its website.
In her column published yesterday, Dear Abby offered counsel on how to deal with a mean-spirited 75-year-old grandmother: "Verbal abuse often leaves scars on those at whom it is aimed, and no one can be blamed for wanting distance from a person who is deliberately hurtful."
Perhaps our favorite advice though, was this: "Kindheartedness is universal -- and not limited to any one area of the map."
Here are some advice highlights from her six-decade long career, as published in her book, "The Best of Dear Abby."