Shana Alexander, '70s TV star. dies

LOS ANGELES, June 24 (UPI) -- Shana Alexander, who gained fame as the liberal voice on the "Point/Counterpoint" segment on CBS' "60 Minutes" in the 1970s, has died. She was 79.

Alexander, who broke ground earlier as the first woman staff writer and columnist at Life magazine, died of cancer Thursday in an assisted-living facility in Hermosa Beach, Calif., her sister, Laurel Bentley of Manhattan Beach, told the Los Angeles Times.

A 1945 graduate of Vassar College, she was a columnist for Newsweek magazine in 1975 when she was teamed with James J. Kilpatrick, the conservative Washington Star columnist, on "Point/Counterpoint" for the next four years.

Born in New York City in 1925, Alexander was the daughter of Milton Ager, a successful pop composer whose songs included "Happy Days Are Here Again," "Hard-Hearted Hannah" and "Ain't She Sweet."

She was twice married and twice divorced. Her 25-year-old daughter, Kathy Alexander, died in 1987.