It was Esther who first became a columnist, taking over the Chicago Sun-Times's Ann Landers column in 1955.

WSJ: 'Dear Abby' Advice Columnist Pauline Friedman Phillips Dies at 94

For decades, Phillips' column competed with the Ann Landers advice column written by her twin sister Esther Friedman Lederer.

BBC: 'Dear Abby' author Pauline Friedman Phillips dies at 94

She also helped her sister Eppie Lederer, aka Ann Landers, get her column with the Chicago Tribune off the ground.

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"If Ann Landers was a drunk and flagellant pirate, " that's what you'd have, said Summers, who still lives in Albany, Oregon.

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In America's not always pithy newspapers, Ann Landers was often among the first items turned to, along with the horoscopes and the cartoons.

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The next day I was reading Ann Landers' column in the Sun-Times and saw a letter from a seventeen-year-old boy who said he was certain that he was a homosexual, and should he tell his parents?

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It could once have sought counsel from two of the most famous people ever born there: twin sisters Ann Landers (Eppie Lederer) and Dear Abby (Pauline Phillips), who left Sioux City to become the two most renowned newspaper advice columnists in history.

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