NEW YORK, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Sheila Michaels, who brought the title "Ms." to prominence, has died in New York at age 78.
Michaels' cousin Howard Nathanson said she died from acute leukemia on June 22, according to local reports on Friday.
Michaels, who had worked as a cabdriver, technical editor and oral historian, did not coin "Ms.," nor did she ever claim to have done so, but she had been credited with ushering back English common parlance the courtesy title.
The first known use of "Ms." goes back to 1901, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
It is used instead of "Miss" or "Mrs" "when it is unknown or unimportant whether the woman addressed is married or single."
"Mrs." is used before a married woman's surname, while "Miss" is used "as a title prefixed to the name of an unmarried woman or girl."
Yet for generations, the term "Ms." lay largely dormant, until Michaels started her push.
In 1961, Michaels saw the typo "Ms." on a newsletter addressed to her roommate and believed it offered women the potential of not being defined by marriage.
"(I) was looking for a title for a woman who did not 'belong' to a man," she said in a 2007 interview with The Guardian.
