Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown dead at age 90

Helen Gurley Brown, the longtime editor of Cosmopolitan who transformed the magazine into a source of female sexual empowerment, died on Monday. She was 90.

Her death was announced in a press release from Hearst, which owns Cosmo.

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It stated that Brown passed away following a brief hospitalization at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, The New York Times reported.

Brown first came to attention with her 1962 book "Sex and the Single Girl." In 1965, she took the helm of Cosmo and remained editor until 1997, transforming the publication in the 1960s into a source of sexual empowerment for women, The Huffington Post reported.

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“Helen Gurley Brown was an icon," Hearst CEO Fran Bennack said in a statement. "Her formula for honest and straightforward advice about relationships, career and beauty revolutionized the magazine industry. She lived every day of her life to the fullest and will always be remembered as the quintessential ‘Cosmo girl.’ She will be greatly missed.”

Donations may be made to The Pussycat Foundation, c/o Karen Sanborn, Hearst Corp., 300 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, to fund media innovation at Columbia and Stanford Universities.

A fall memorial will be announced at a later date, USA Today reported.