Frances Lear (''née'' Loeb, July 14, 1923 – September 30, 1996) was an American activist, magazine publisher, editor and writer.

Biography

Lear was born with only a first name, Evelyn, to an unwed mother in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. On the east side of the Hudson River, f ...

, at the Vanderheusen Home for Wayward Girls. She was adopted at 14 months by Aline and Herbert Loeb from

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a Village (New York), village located within the Town (New York), Town of Mamaroneck (town), New York, Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York. Larchmont is a suburb of New York City, located approximately northeast of Midt ...

, who changed her name from Evelyn to Frances. When she was 10 years old, her adoptive father committed suicide after losing his business in the Depression. Her mother remarried and when Frances was 12, her stepfather began molesting her, according to her autobiography. She attended the Mary A. Burnham School for Girls in

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence, Massachusetts, Florence and ...

. She originally made her career as a

buyer Procurement is the process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual o ...

for women's sportswear at Lord & Taylor. She was married and divorced twice at a young age, first to Arnold Weiss and secondly to Morton Kaufman (or Kaufmann). In 1956, she married television producer

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including ''All in the Family'' (1 ...

in Las Vegas. At age 50, she was diagnosed with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

. She became an activist for the women's movement, civil rights and mental health. During the 1968 Democratic Presidential Primaries, she worked on Minnesota U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy's campaign for President. She later worked with the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

on behalf of the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...

. In 1985, she divorced Lear after 28 years of marriage. The divorce settlement, estimated to be between $100 million to $112 million (), was one of the largest on record. She used $25 million of the settlement to start '' Lear's'', a magazine targeting women over 45. She was ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in ...

'' Editor of the Year in 1989. The magazine folded six years later. She is acknowledged to be the inspiration for the character Maude Findlay on the sitcom '' Maude''. Norman Lear gave some support to this suggestion, including in his 1998 Emmy Legends interview. Frances Lear published an autobiography in 1992, ''The Second Seduction'', and at the time of her death had written another book, ''Frances Lear's Guide to Work and Family in the 21st Century''. She had two daughters, Kate (b. 1957) and Maggie (b. 1959), with Norman Lear. She died of breast cancer at age 73.

References

External links

* 1923 births 1996 deaths Deaths from breast cancer in New York (state) Norman Lear People with bipolar disorder {{US-activist-stub