Editing Margo Howard

{{Short description|American advice columnist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2016}}
'''Margo Howard''' (née '''Lederer'''; born March 15, 1940) is an American writer and former [[advice column]]ist. She is the only child of businessman/innovator [[Jules Lederer]] and [[Eppie Lederer]] (better known as Ann Landers after her long-time advice column ''[[Ask Ann Landers]]''), the niece of [[Pauline Phillips]], and the cousin of [[Jeanne Phillips]] (the latter two both better known as [[Abigail Van Buren]] and authors of the advice column ''[[Dear Abby]]'').<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/04/01/women-of-letters/ |title=Women of Letters: Pauline And Jeanne Phillips (Dear Abby). Eppie Lederer (Ann Landers). And Now Margo Howard (Dear Prudence). In This Family, The 'Advice Gene' Clearly Is Dominant|author=Kogan, Rick Kogan|work=Chicago Tribune |date=April 1, 2001}}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early life and education===
Howard was born in [[Sioux City, Iowa]], to Eppie (née Esther Pauline Friedman) and [[Jules Lederer]], a businessman and eventually the founder of Budget-Rent-A-Car International. She attended [[Brandeis University]] but dropped out to marry, after which she worked at the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' and ''[[Chicago Daily News]]'', and wrote for ''[[The New Republic]]'', ''[[People (American magazine)|People]]'', ''[[The Nation]]'', and ''[[Boston Magazine]]''. She wrote a syndicated social commentary column, ''Margo'', in the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1971-06-25 |title=Margo Coleman Is Wed in Chicago |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/25/archives/margo-coleman-is-wed-in-chicago.html |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Career===
For eight years, Howard wrote the ''[[Dear Prudence (advice column)|Dear Prudence]]'' column featured in ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' magazine. ''Dear Prudence'' also was featured on [[National Public Radio]] and syndicated in more than 200 newspapers. In February 2006, she left the ''Dear Prudence'' column, and began writing a ''Dear Margo'' column for Yahoo, then for Women on the Web (wowowow.com) through [[Creators Syndicate]]. On May 11, 2013, Howard ended the ''Dear Margo'' column, announcing that she was retiring from writing on a deadline and saying, "I plan to write long-form pieces as the spirit moves me".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wowowow.com/dear-margo/dear-margo-be-well/ |title=Dear Margo: Be Well |last=Howard |first=Margo |date=May 10, 2013 |website=Wowowow.com |access-date=May 10, 2013}}</ref>

Her aunt, [[Pauline Phillips|Pauline Esther Friedman "Popo" Phillips]], wrote the ''[[Dear Abby]]'' column. Although her mother and aunt were twin sisters, and close while growing up, an intense rivalry developed between them because of their columns.<ref name="time">{{cite web|last1=Pous|first1=Terri|title=Ann Landers and Dear Abby|url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/04/double-vision-top-10-famous-twins/slide/ann-landers-and-dear-abby/|website=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|publisher=Time Inc.|access-date=November 30, 2015}}</ref> In an echo of that rivalry, Howard and her aunt never got along,<ref>{{cite news|author=Maran, Meredith|work=The Boston Globe|date=October 17, 2014|title=Book Review: 'Eat, Drink, & Remarry'|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2014/10/17/book-review-eat-drink-remarry-margo-howard/nXm6P2zvtx21SqzPmu08KL/story.html}}</ref> and she has had public differences with her cousin [[Jeanne Phillips]],<ref name="time"/> who took over the ''Dear Abby'' column when her mother died.

In 2014, Howard published ''Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Confessions of a Serial Wife'', reminisces of her four marriages.<ref>{{cite book|date=2014|title=Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Confessions of a Serial Wife|author=Howard, Margo|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22894477-eat-drink-and-remarry|isbn=9781322026589|publisher=Harlequin }}</ref>

===Marriages and family===
Howard has been married four times: first to John Coleman (1962–1967); second to Jules Furth (1971–1976); third to the actor [[Ken Howard]] (1977–1991); fourth (and currently) to Ronald Weintraub, a Boston cardiac surgeon. After her divorce from Howard, she retained the surname for professional use.

Howard has three children by Coleman: two daughters, Abra and Andrea, and a son, [[Adam Coleman Howard]], who is an actor and director.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0170901/bio|title= Adam Coleman Howard's profile |website=IMDb.com}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|25em}}
==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [http://www.creators.com/lifestylefeatures/dear-margo.html?columnsName=pru ''Dear Margo'' page on Creators Syndicate]
* [https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/04/01/women-of-letters/ ''Chicago Tribune'' Profile of Landers Family]
* {{LCAuth|n82029745|Margo Howard|3|}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Margo}}
[[Category:American advice columnists]]
[[Category:American women columnists]]
[[Category:American women non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Chicago]]
[[Category:Writers from Sioux City, Iowa]]
[[Category:Brandeis University alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish advice columnists]]
[[Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Jewish women writers]]
[[Category:Chicago Daily News people]]
[[Category:Chicago Tribune people]]
[[Category:The New Republic people]]
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]