Bess Myerson, only Jewish Miss America, dies

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Bess Myerson, 1945's Miss America and the only Jewish woman to wear the crown, has died at age 90.

Her death was recorded as occurring Dec. 14 in Santa Monica, Calif., where she lived her final years in obscurity, The New York Times reported Monday, citing public records.

A New York city native, Myerson became Miss America at a time when the position had a higher public profile, and came days after the end of World War II, which some anti-Semites in the United States blamed on Jews. The award was regarded, by some American Jews, as a signal of acceptance. She went on to a very visible career as a television game-show regular and spokeswoman for a variety of sponsors' products.

She was appointed New York City's first commissioner of consumer affairs and helped pass some of the nation's toughest consumer protection laws. In 1977 she campaigned for Edward I. Koch in his successful run for mayor, often appearing together to dispel rumors Koch, a lifelong bachelor, might be gay. Rumors then began they might soon marry.

Although she raised millions for charities and hosted fundraising dinners for the Democratic Party in the 1960s, Myerson was divorced twice and arrested for shoplifting several times. An affair with Carl Capasso, a married sewer contractor whose divorce proceeding prominently mentioned Myerson, blemished her reputation in the 1980s.

In a separate trial, she invoked the Fifth Amendment before a grand jury investigating a city contract Capasso obtained while Myerson was New York City's culture affairs commissioner. Myerson was cleared of charges, including mail fraud and conspiracy, in a 1988 trial in which Judge Hortense Gabel, who presided over Capasso's trial, was accused of receiving a bribe from Myerson, a job for Gabel's daughter.

Myerson's issues remained tabloid headlines, but she left public life after the 1988 and quietly devoted herself to charity work.