Bess Myerson, Miss America Who Served New York City, Dies at 90

Bess Myerson, the tall, aspiring musician who in 1945 became the only Jewish winner of the Miss America Pageant and went on to a career in New York City government, has died. She was 90.

She died on Dec. 14 at her home in Santa Monica, California, according to the New York Times, citing public records.

As Miss America, Myerson created a model for subsequent contest winners by choosing to highlight a substantive issue -- in her case, anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry -- during her one-year reign.

Later, she brought an element of glamour and celebrity to New York politics. Her work as the city’s consumer affairs commissioner from 1969 to 1973 landed her on the cover of Life magazine, and she loaned her high profile to Edward Koch in his 1977 mayoral campaign. She ran a big-budget campaign for U.S. Senate in 1980, losing the Democratic nomination to Elizabeth Holtzman.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-05/bess-myerson-miss-america-who-served-new-york-city-dies-at-90.html