Lynn Sherr (born March 4, 1942) is an American broadcast journalist and author, best known as a correspondent for the ABC news magazine ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

''.

Life

Sherr was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, and attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore. She received a B.A. from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial ...

. She was a freelance host at WNET-TV in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, then staff. She worked for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

and

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station W ...

. In 1977, she was the guest host of the MacNeil–Lehrer Report while

Robert MacNeil Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, Order of Canada, OC (born January 19, 1931) is a Canadian-American journalist and writer. He is a retired television news anchor who partnered with Jim Lehrer to create ''The MacNeil/Lehrer Report'' in 1975. E ...

was absent, and has hosted a number of PBS specials. In 1983–85 she was a reporter/editor for

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The company's m ...

. In 2008, she left the television network ABC after working with them for 31 years. She is the author of ''Outside the Box: A Memoir'', published in September 2006, which chronicles her life on and off TV, including her husband's death from cancer as well as her own battle with

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowe ...

. She received a 1994

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

along with producer Alan B. Goldberg for the "Hunger Inside" a 20/20 documentary about extreme

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

Feminism

Sherr is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She has twice (in 1989 and 1992) been the recipient of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's (PPFA)

Margaret Sanger Award The Margaret Sanger Award was an honor awarded annually by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 1966 to 2015. Created to honor the legacy of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, it is the Federation's highest honor. I ...

(known as the "Maggie"), which is awarded to journalists for "exceptional coverage of reproductive rights and health care issues" in the view of PPFA. She also hosted PPFA's Maggie Awards luncheon in 2010. Sherr has rejected calls for a "new feminism" and remarked, "What's wrong with the old feminism?" She strongly criticized

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...

for calling herself a feminist: "What, exactly, has she done legislatively for other women? What paths has she forged?" Sherr was featured in the Jewish Women's Archive web feature ''Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution''.

Published works

* ''Susan B. Anthony Slept Here: A Guide to American Women's Landmarks'' (co-author, 1994) * * * * * *

References

External links

ABC News 20/20 profile
*
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation
where Lynn Sherr is a Founding Patron. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherr, Lynn 1942 births American biographers 20th-century American Jews American feminists Jewish feminists American television reporters and correspondents Living people Peabody Award winners Writers from Philadelphia Wellesley College alumni Journalists from Pennsylvania Lower Merion High School alumni 21st-century American Jews