BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The first Jewish Miss America Bess Myerson died at age of 90, according to media reports on Tuesday.
Born to immigrant Jews from Russia, she was raised in a Bronx housing project and embodied an up-from-poverty success story that made her an overnight sensation and possibly the best-known Miss America in the contest's history.
Media reviews said her death marked an uncharacteristically obscure end to a life of dazzle and tumult. Her death was not announced publicly. She was reportedly dead on Dec. 14, 2014 in Santa Monica, California, U.S..
The raven-haired, hazel-eyed beauty was crowned Miss America of 1945. She was considered as the glamorous groundbreaker and pioneer of consumer-protection laws in New York City.
"In the Jewish community she was the most famous pretty girl since Queen Esther in ancient Persia," author Susan Dworkin wrote in "Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story," a book published in 1987.
Behind the scenes, Myerson faced a thornier reality. In a time of rampant anti-Semitism, the Miss America pageant director urged her to change her name to make it sound less Jewish. She refused. As a Miss America representative, she found country clubs canceling her visits and corporate sponsorships dropping away.
She became a spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League and raised millions of dollars for the new country of Israel. She lectured high school students about tolerance.“You can’t be beautiful and hate," she often said.
(Agencies)
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