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 city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the riv ...

, 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 located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Lar ...

, 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 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an a ...

. She originally made her career as a buyer for women's sportswear at

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

. 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 (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning '' All in the Fami ...

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

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, 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 last from days to weeks each. If the elevat ...

. 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 Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...

'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) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...

. 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 ''Lear's'' was a monthly women's magazine, intended for women over 50. It covered celebrity interviews, women's issues, and many progressive issues. Its slogan was "For The Woman Who Wasn't Born Yesterday". It was published from 1988 until early 1 ...

'', 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 mu ...

'' Editor of the Year in 1989. The magazine folded six years later. Some consider her the inspiration for the character Maude Findlay on the sitcom '' Maude''. Lear has previously given some support to this suggestion, but more recently has claimed that he modelled Maude after himself. She 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 (born 1957) and Maggie (born 1959), with Norman Lear. She died of breast cancer at age 73.

References

External links

* 1923 births 1996 deaths Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Norman Lear {{Activist-stub