Dear Abby’s Longtime Columnist Announces Retirement
End of an Era After Nearly Four Decades
Jeanne Phillips, the 84‑year‑old writer behind the Dear Abby advice column, has announced her immediate retirement, ending a tenure that has spanned almost 40 years.
From Mother’s Column to Her Own
Phillips took over authorship from her mother, Pauline Phillips, in August 2002. Pauline had begun the column in January 1956 at the San Francisco Chronicle after passing a rewrite test, and she spent years reading readers’ letters alongside her twin sister Ann Landers.
The Toronto Sun has published Dear Abby since its first issue on November 1, 1971, after acquiring syndication rights from the defunct Toronto Telegram.
Looking Ahead
Phillips said she now wants the freedom to travel extensively without the pressure of deadlines, a goal she has voiced for some time.
“For some time now, I have wanted the freedom to travel extensively without having to worry about meeting deadlines,” she wrote in her farewell letter, adding that at 84 it is time to follow that dream.
She will continue to answer reader questions until the end of the year, after which Andrews McMeel Syndication, the long‑time distributor of the column, will take over.
Brent Bartram, president of Andrews McMeel, called Dear Abby “the gold standard among advice columnists” for nearly seven decades.
Phillips had previously retired from writing Dear Abby in 2000, and after her mother’s death from Alzheimer’s disease on January 16, 2013, she resumed the role, keeping the column alive for more than two decades.
