FILE — Pauline Phillips, left, known as Abigail Van Buren for her advice column, "Dear Abby," and Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer, right, known by the pen name, Ann Landers, share a light moment after arriving in Sioux City to attend their 50th high school reunion in 1986. Ann Landers died in 2002.

Photo: John Gaps III, ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE — Abigail Van Buren holds a photograph showing her mother and father at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif., Dec. 1986. In 1905, her parents Abraham Friedman and Rebecca Rushall were faced with the decision of a lifetime, whether to leave Russia. It would be 13 years before Rebecca gave birth to the twins who would become America's best-loved advice columnists. Photo: Doug Pizac, ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE — Mary Ellen Davenport, interviews Abigail Van Buren, left, who is famous for her "Dear Abby" column in Austin, Texas on January 31, 1959. Photo: Anonymous, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dear Abbey's first column appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday January 9, 1956. View Larger Image or Open pdf file.

Photo: The Chronicle

FILE — Abigail Van Buren, at the fall meeting of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association, Sept. 28, 1989. Photo: Robert Kaiser, ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE — Advice Columnist, Abigail Van Buren, known to her readers as "Dear Abby", is pictured in this undated photo. Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE — First lady Nancy Reagan talks to Kristen Ellis of Hebron, Ky., the 1985 March of Dimes Poster Child, as President Reagan and newspaper columnist Abigail Van Buren, known to readers as "Dear Abby," look on during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Friday, Feb. 23, 1985. The mail in the foreground is part the deluge of mail sent to the White House after ?Dear Abby? asked readers to send President Reagan birthday greetings along with checks made out to the March of Dimes. Photo: AP

FILE — "Dear Abby" advice columnist Pauline Phillips, 82, known to millions of readers as Abigail Van Buren, signs autographs for some of dozens of fans after the dedication of a "Dear Abby" star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001, in Los Angeles. "Dear Abby" is read by over 95 million people daily in more than 1,250 newspapers, and was also a CBS network radio show for 12 years. Photo: REED SAXON, ASSOCIATED PRESS