Dear Abby's original author, Pauline Phillips, dead at 94, lived in Minnetonka

Though Phillips (pictured) has died, the column she founded lives on and is written by her daughter.

Pauline Phillips, the original Dear Abby, died yesterday at the age of 94. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

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Phillips, a native of Sioux City, Iowa, began writing the Dear Abby column in 1956 under the name Abigail Van Buren. At the column's peak it had a daily readership of 100 million, according to TMZ.

Beginning in 1987, the Dear Abby column was co-written by Phillips and her daughter, Jeanne. Phillips retired from writing the column altogether in 2002 as she began to suffer from Alzheimer's.

"My mother leaves very big high heels to fill with a legacy of compassion, commitment, and positive social change," Jeanne Phillips told TMZ. "I will honor her memory every day by continuing this legacy."

Philipps' twin sister, Eppie Lederer, who wrote a similar column as Ann Landers, died a decade ago this June. The AP reports that Phillips lived in Minnetonka, and she reportedly died in Minneapolis.