Naomi Sims, generally regarded as the first black superstar in female modeling, died Saturday. Only four months ago I marked what I thought was her sixtieth birthday (she was 61; I amended the mistake) with a slew of pictures from her illustrious career, with some very kind and generous words about her contributions to modeling and to business, so I don't need to repeat that here. Let the record show that I was singing her praises when she was very much alive.
She died of cancer, and she had apparently been dealing with the disease for a long time, a fact I was unaware of. Also, she had been living in Newark, New Jersey at the time. Though she was once the most recognizable black model in the fashion world, the Newark Star-Ledger only saw fit to give her an obituary comprised of only a few paragraphs mixed in with the other obituaries.
There are few black models - indeed, few models of any race - who have the grace and class Naomi Sims had. She will be be missed. :-(
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The Star-Ledger compensated for its slight obituary with a generous appreciation of Ms.Sims's career in the editorial pages of its August 5 edition.
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