Born Pauline Friedman, Abigail Van Buren was best known for her “Dear Abby” column and the witty, commonsense advice she gave hundreds of millions of readers. When her twin sister took on the title of Ann Landers for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1955, Van Buren wrote to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle to offer her services as an advice columnist, choosing her pen name from the biblical figure whom King David praised for her wise counsel. In her column, she championed the rights of women, Jews, African Americans, and other groups, occasionally publishing columns that newspapers threatened not to print, such as one where she advocated women’s rights to control their own bodies. In addition to her column, she wrote six books, and as she began to suffer from Alzheimer’s in her later years, she co-wrote her column with her daughter Jeanne, who took over the column and the title of Dear Abby after her death.