![FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2001 file photo, "Dear Abby" advice columnist Pauline Friedman Phillips, 82, known to millions of readers as Abigail van Buren, signs autographs for some of dozens of fans after the dedication of a "Dear Abby" star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Phillips, who had Alzheimers disease, died Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, she was 94. Phillips' column competed for decades with the advice column of Ann Landers, written by her twin sister, Esther Friedman Lederer. Their relationship was stormy in their early adult years, but later they regained the close relationship they had growing up in Sioux City, Iowa. The two columns differed in style. Ann Landers responded to questioners with homey, detailed advice. Abby's replies were often flippant one-liners. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/60d1eb133b00000323ec471c.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
Dear Abby -- the advice columnist who was credited with dispensing "uncommon common sense" to millions of readers throughout the world -- has died at age 94 after a decade-long bout with Alzheimer's. Generations grew up taking advice from Pauline Friedman Phillips, who wrote the long-running "Dear Abby" column under the pen name of Abigail Van Buren.
Described by the New York Times in its obituary as "flinty," Phillips -- twin sister of advice columnist Ann Landers -- was a California housewife who said she wanted to do something more meaningful than just play mah-jongg; she wrote her way into the lives of millions, dispensing advice about everything from relationships, raising kids and dealing with in-laws.
Her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, took over the column "unofficially in 1987 and officially in 2000," according to The Times. Dear Abby appears in approximately 1,400 newspapers worldwide and has a daily readership of more than 110 million, which includes its website.
In her column published yesterday, Dear Abby offered counsel on how to deal with a mean-spirited 75-year-old grandmother: "Verbal abuse often leaves scars on those at whom it is aimed, and no one can be blamed for wanting distance from a person who is deliberately hurtful."
Perhaps our favorite advice though, was this: "Kindheartedness is universal -- and not limited to any one area of the map."
Here are some advice highlights from her six-decade long career, as published in her book, "The Best of Dear Abby."