Helen Gurley Brown editor of "Cosmopolitan" and replaced by Bonnie Fuller. When she left, "Cosmopolitan" ranked sixth at the newsstand and, for the 16th straight year, ranked first in bookstores on college campuses. However, she stayed on at Hearst publishing and remained the international editor for all 59 international editions of "Cosmo" until her death on August 13, 2012. In September 2008, Brown was named the 13th-most-powerful American over the age of 80 by "Slate" magazine. In 1965, Gurley took over as editor-in-chief of "Cosmopolitan" magazine and was in that position until 1997. Brown revamped the magazine by taking it from a women's
William Gurley the firm of Oscar Hanks, who was a well-known maker of surveying instruments and church bells in Troy. He worked for Hanks for five years. In 1845, Gurley established his own scientific instrument manufacturing business in partnership with James Phelps. Phelps had had his own shop since 1838. They called the business Phelps & Gurley. In 1844, William Gurley's brother Lewis Ephraim Gurley joined Phelps' shop as an apprentice and he then attended Union College from 1847 to 1851. Lewis Gurley rejoined the firm in 1851, at which point it was renamed Phelps and Gurleys. In 1852, Phelps sold out