32 Facts About Bess Myerson

Bess Myerson was an American politician, model, and television actress who in 1945 became the first Jewish Miss America.

Bess Myerson was a heroine to parts of the Jewish community, where "she was the most famous pretty girl since Queen Esther".

Bess Myerson was a commissioner in the New York City government, served on presidential commissions from the 1960s through the 1980s, and ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate.

Bess Myerson was born in the Bronx, New York, to Louis Bess Myerson and Bella, who were Jewish immigrants from Russia.

Bess Myerson had three siblings: a younger sister, Helen; an elder sister, Sylvia; and a brother, Joseph, who died at age 3, before Myerson was born.

Bess Myerson's upbringing emphasized the importance of scholarship over physical beauty.

Bess Myerson reached her adult height when she was 12, and she towered over other children, something that she said made her feel "awkward and gawky" during her preadolescence.

Bess Myerson recalled one of her worst childhood memories was playing the tall and thin Popeye cartoon character Olive Oyl in an elementary school play.

Bess Myerson began studying piano when she was 9 years old and was in the second class of New York's High School of Music and Art in 1937, graduating in 1941.

Bess Myerson went to Hunter College, graduating with honors in 1945 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music.

When Bess Myerson was told about the pageant by her sister Sylvia, who was acquainted with Pape, Bess Myerson was angry because she felt that the beauty business was "embarrassing".

Bess Myerson enjoyed competing in the pageant, in which she stood out from the other contestants because of her height.

Bess Myerson told interviewers that she wanted to buy a black Steinway grand piano with the scholarship money.

Bess Myerson was the Miss New York entry in the 1945 Miss America pageant, and she competed in the talent portion of the contest by performing the music of Edvard Grieg and George Gershwin.

Bess Myerson paid for graduate studies at Juilliard and Columbia University with the pageant scholarship money.

Bess Myerson became a vocal opponent of antisemitism and racism, and her speaking tour became the highlight of her Miss America reign.

Bess Myerson was the "Lady in Mink" modeling the grand prize mink coat, and introducing guests and prizes, throughout the 1951 to 1959 network run of the program.

Bess Myerson regularly substituted for Dave Garroway on the Today Show.

Bess Myerson was a host of the television broadcast of the Miss America pageant from 1954 to 1968.

Bess Myerson served on several presidential commissions on violence, mental health, workplace issues and hunger in the 1960s and 1970s.

Bess Myerson was a frequent public companion of then-Congressman Ed Koch throughout the late 1970s and the beginning of his mayoral ambitions, and chaired his successful 1977 campaign for New York City mayor.

In 2002, Bess Myerson appeared in the documentary film Miss America as a former Miss America interviewee.

Bess Myerson became romantically involved with a married sewer contractor, Carl Andrew Capasso.

In October 1946, Bess Myerson married Allan Wayne, a recently discharged US Navy captain.

Bess Myerson pleaded guilty to retail theft and was ordered to pay a fine.

Bess Myerson was very connected to her Jewish roots, and was filmed in conversation with the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Bess Myerson donated funds to help build "Bessie's Bistro" at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU in memory of her parents Bella and Louis Myerson, who lived in the neighborhood near the Museum.

Bess Myerson survived ovarian cancer in the 1970s and experienced a mild stroke in 1981, from which she made a full recovery.

Bess Myerson moved to Florida in 2002, and later moved to California, where she remained until her death.

Bess Myerson died on December 14,2014, in Santa Monica, California, at age 90.

Bess Myerson's death was not immediately announced publicly, but it was confirmed by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office three weeks after she died.

Bess Myerson was interred at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica.