Bess Myerson Dies at 90 from Alzheimer's Disease January 11, 2015

Bess Myerson was Miss America in 1945, when that title was an important one at the end of the Second World War. As Miss America, she was set up for a series of appearnces in many cities across the country. However, instead of welcoming the New York extremely talented beauty, she was discriminated against because she was Jewish. She was not admitted to the country clubs and was not permitted to stay in the pageant-ordered hotels! Eventually she just went home.

She became an advocate; she presented the promise of the Miss America pageant and she became  outspoken about the racism and the bigotry that existed then and sadly, to some extent, exists still today. She had the courage to speak out and the pride in her heritage. She became the Consumer Affairs advocate for the city of New York and served under two mayors, Mayor Lindsay and Mayor Ed Koch. She also becme a television personality, she was on three shows. The most famous one was What's My Line?

She even declared to run for a Senate seat in New York in 1980, but was sidelined with cancer

In her personal life she was not lucky; she eventully was charged with bribery when she hired the daughter of a judge who was hearing a divorce case involving her married lover. She was acquitted, but she lost her job as commissioner.

After 1988, she moved from New York to be with her daughter. She developed Alzheimer's disease and died on December 14, 2014 three weeks before the press heard about her death.