Eulogy

By Katie Couric

Most people outside the publishing world never heard of RUTH WHITNEY, the editor in chief of Glamour magazine for 31 years, until last August. And that's the way she wanted it. But it's not an overstatement to say that Ruth changed the way many women saw the world and themselves. As we navigated the tricky and challenging waters of the women's movement, this thinking woman's editor prodded, provoked and pushed us. It's hard to imagine where women would be without her. Ruth put substance over style. She was fearless, solid, unwavering. There wasn't a phony bone on her regal Katharine Hepburnesque frame. She never underestimated women's intelligence, regularly publishing articles most women's magazines wouldn't touch, from "The Racism of Well-Meaning White People" to "Inside Tailhook: From the Woman Who Changed the Navy." One of the first things Ruth did at Glamour was change the annual college competition from the best dressed to the most accomplished, to focus on women's achievements, not their hairdos. She created Glamour's Women of the Year awards, and I got to know her after the magazine honored me in 1992. Her enthusiasm for women's triumphs was contagious. I watched as she took real pleasure in honoring the incredible women who were busting barriers and raising hell. She did both.

--Katie Couric, anchor, NBC's Today show