HONORS AND FAREWELL FOR AN `OLD SCHOOL NEWSPAPER DAME'.

Byline: Daily News

The Daily News joins with newspapers across the country today in honoring ``a gutsy, old-school newspaper dame''.

A special column honoring the late ``Ann Landers'', written by her daughter, appears at the end of this story.

The Ann Landers' advice column written for nearly five decades by Esther Lederer will end July 27 following her death Saturday.

A new column called Ann's Mailbox, written by two of her associates, will likely replace it in the Daily News, Editor David J. Butler said.

``She owned the copyright and she did not wish for the name to continue,'' Margo Howard said of her mother on Sunday. ``She felt it was very much associated with her. That name will not continue.''

Ann Landers columns already completed will run through July 27, including one in today's U section. The new daily Ann's Mailbox will be written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, both longtime editors of Ann Landers.

Here is a farewell column written by Howard:

Dear Readers: I write to you today in my mother's stead. She had wanted to write her farewell column herself, but things did not work out that way. We talked about it, though, and she was quite clear about what she would have said. So I shall say it for her. She felt profoundly privileged to have been able to shed some light and offer guidance for 46 years ... more than half her life. This column was her mission, her raison d'etre, and she worked on it, daily, until the end.

She believed she got as much sustenance from you, her readers, as you got from her. The chance to come into your homes and into your lives meant the world to her. And she was convinced that if any one thing could serve as a solution to all manner of problems, it was kindness.

The more senior among you might remember when she announced that she and my father were parting after many years. In that shorter-than-usual column, she asked her editors to leave a white space at the bottom, as a memorial to quite a good marriage that didn't make it to the finish line. I would ask her editors again, today, to leave a white space ... this time in honor of a gutsy, old-school newspaper dame who believed there was no better job in all the world and who would, if she could have, wished you a fond and grateful farewell herself. And she wanted you to know that hers had been ``a simply wonderful ride.''

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(color) ANN LANDERS