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
Helen Gurley Brown Gurley, her sister Mary Eloine (later Mrs. Alford), and their mother moved to Los Angeles, California. A few months after moving, Mary contracted polio. While in California, Brown attended John H. Francis Polytechnic High School. After Gurley's graduation, the family moved to Warm Springs, Georgia. She attended one semester at Texas State College for Women and then moved back to California to attend Woodbury Business College, from which she graduated in 1941. In 1947, Cleo and Mary moved to Cleo's native Osage, Arkansas, while Helen stayed in Los Angeles. After working at the William Morris Agency, Music Corporation of America,