Margo Howard (née Lederer; born March 15, 1940) is an American writer and former

advice column An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are w ...

ist. She is the only child of businessman/innovator Jules Lederer and Eppie Lederer (better known as Ann Landers after her long-time advice column ''

Ask Ann Landers Ann Landers was a pen name created by ''Chicago Sun-Times'' advice columnist Ruth Crowley in 1943 and taken over by Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer in 1955. For 56 years, the ''Ask Ann Landers'' syndicated advice column was a regular featur ...

''), the niece of

Pauline Phillips Pauline Esther Phillips (born Friedman; July 4, 1918 – January 16, 2013), also known as Abigail Van Buren, was an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the well-known Dear Abby, ''Dear Abby'' newspaper column in 1956. It beca ...

, and the cousin of

Jeanne Phillips Jeanne Phillips ( ; born 1942), also known as Abigail Van Buren, is an American advice columnist who has written for the advice column ''Dear Abby'' since 2000. She was born in Minneapolis to Pauline Esther Phillips, who founded ''Dear Abby ...

(the latter two both better known as Abigail Van Buren and authors of the advice column ''

Dear Abby ''Dear Abby'' is an American advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name "Abigail Van Buren" and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name. History According to Pau ...

'').

Biography

Early life and education

Howard was born in

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Woodbury and Plymouth County, Iowa, Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, fo ...

, to Eppie (née Esther Pauline Friedman) and Jules Lederer, a businessman and eventually the founder of Budget-Rent-A-Car International. She attended

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

but dropped out to marry, after which she worked at the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' and ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

'', and wrote for ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', and ''

Boston Magazine ''Boston'' (also called "''Boston'' magazine" or referred to by the nickname "BoMag") is a regional monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area, which has been in publication since 1962. History Metrocorp Publishing, a Philade ...

''. She wrote a syndicated social commentary column, ''Margo'', in the 1970s.

Career

For eight years, Howard wrote the ''

Dear Prudence "Dear Prudence" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). The song was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Written in Ri ...

'' column featured in ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' magazine. ''Dear Prudence'' also was featured on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and syndicated in more than 200 newspapers. In February 2006, she left the ''Dear Prudence'' column, and began writing a ''Dear Margo'' column for Yahoo, then for Women on the Web (wowowow.com) through

Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate (also known as Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites, and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few suc ...

. On May 11, 2013, Howard ended the ''Dear Margo'' column, announcing that she was retiring from writing on a deadline and saying, "I plan to write long-form pieces as the spirit moves me". Her aunt, Pauline Esther Friedman "Popo" Phillips, wrote the ''

'' column. Although her mother and aunt were twin sisters, and close while growing up, an intense rivalry developed between them because of their columns. In an echo of that rivalry, Howard and her aunt never got along, and she has had public differences with her cousin

, who took over the ''Dear Abby'' column when her mother died. In 2014, Howard published ''Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Confessions of a Serial Wife'', reminisces of her four marriages.

Marriages and family

Howard has been married four times: first to John Coleman (1962–1967); second to Jules Furth (1971–1976); third to the actor

Ken Howard Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in ''1776'' (1972) and as high school basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the televisi ...

(1977–1991); fourth (and currently) to Ronald Weintraub, a Boston cardiac surgeon. After her divorce from Howard, she retained the surname for professional use. Howard has three children by Coleman: two daughters, Abra and Andrea, and a son, Adam Coleman Howard, who is an actor and director.

References

External links

''Dear Margo'' page on Creators Syndicate

''Chicago Tribune'' Profile of Landers Family
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Margo American advice columnists American women columnists American women non-fiction writers Writers from Chicago Writers from Sioux City, Iowa Brandeis University alumni Jewish advice columnists Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish women writers Chicago Daily News people Chicago Tribune people The New Republic people 1940 births Living people