Media: Globally Read Gossip Columnist Liz Smith is Dead, at 94

-New York Post

Former New York Post gossip columnist Liz Smith, who won her own A-list status with her witty chronicling of the glitterati, died of natural causes on Sunday, her literary agent, Joni Evans, said.

She was 94.

An affable blonde known for pealing laughter, Smith wrote a column that celebrated her famous friends, from Tom Hanks to Liza Minnelli to Madonna, and was read around the world for more than a quarter-century.

Despite her towering reputation, Smith held a lighthearted opinion of herself.

“We mustn’t take ourselves too seriously in this world of gossip,” she said in 1987. “When you look at it realistically, what I do is pretty insignificant. Still, I’m having a lot of fun.”