OFFBEAT: Tribune Syndicate announces death of horoscope columnist Linda C. Black (2024)

Philip Potempa - , (219) 852-4327

In the 15 years I've worked for The Times, among many othertopics, I've had the duty of writing about deaths of our columnistsand additions to the comics and puzzles pages.

When astrologer Jeane Dixon died in 1997, wereplaced her horoscope column with her columnist colleagueSydney Omarr. And when he died in 2003, we optedto continue running his Tribune Media Servicessyndicated column, which was subsequently taken over by his ex-wifeand long-time assistant astrologer JeraldineSaunders.

Today, here in The Times, we've now been running theKing Features syndicated horoscope column byastrologer Jacqueline Bigar since November2007.

(Perhaps the most bizarre story I ever had to write forThe Times explaining to readers about achange/addition to one of our standing features was in October2005, when we first added a daily Sudoku puzzle,and I had to write a cover story about this "new" puzzle craze andhow it's played. But since Sudoku puzzles were first invented in1979 by Hoosier claim-to-fame Howard Gans, anarchitect from Connorsville, Ind., as a fan of trivia, I didn'tmind the assignment).

At times, even for newspapers, the business of working with asyndication service with standing features can require a watchfuleditor's eye.

Last Thursday, Tribune Media Services and The ChicagoTribune announced that longtime syndicated horoscopecolumnist Linda C. Black had died at age 65 ofovarian cancer on Aug. 3 at a hospital near her California coasthome which happened to be a peaco*ck farm. However, since thecolumns are based on the charting of the celestial heavens andwritten several weeks in advance, Black's daughterNancy, who had been assuming the columns duties inrecent months with family friend StephanieClements, waited a month and half before informing thecolumn's distributor of the death.

"We were a bit surprised by it all and you're not the firstperson to ask about the delay before readers were told of Linda'spassing," Mary Elson, managing editor at TribuneMedia Services, told me Monday.

"As soon as we were contacted about her death, we immediatelyreleased a statement and The Chicago Tribune went to work on theobituary tribute which ran Thursday [Sept. 17]."

Her official biography, as displayed at the Tribune Media ServesWeb site, reads: "Writing from her cozy cabin near the Big Surcoastline in California, nationally syndicated writer andastrologer Linda Black gives readers more than just their dailyforecast. For personal consultations and articles on the stockmarket, sporting events and political issues, go toLindaBlack.com."

Described as a devout Catholic, Black said she learned celestialnavigation while married to her first husband, RichardBlack, a sailor who taught her how to read the heavens forguidance.

The column feature will be renamed and continued as co-authoredby Black's daughter Nancy and Clements.

Black's column began in The Chicago Tribune in 1992, replacingactress-turned-astrologer Joyce Jillson (who diedin 2004) after she joined Creators Syndicate.

Of course, it's not the first time syndicated "stars" havecaused confusion.

Some readers might recall it was in May 1982 that a few of theeditors of newspapers around the country noticed advice columnistAnn Landers had been repeating previous publishedreader letters and answers which had run a decade earlier. BothLanders and her editor at the now defunct Field SyndicationServices had to apologize.

And when Lander's twin sister Abigail Van Burenbegan making fewer and fewer public appearances, preferring thather daughter and "Dear Abby" pen-name successorJeanne Phillips, speak on behalf of the advicecolumn, Larry King, as well as editors began toquestion in 2002 who was actually authoring the 40-year-old columnfeature distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.When it was discovered Jeanne had been responsible for most of thecolumn duties since the mid-1990s, her syndication editor requiredthat a tag refer to her as the features sole author and her motheras the column's founder.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or219.852.4327.

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