Image Source: Wikimedia Commons BY NICHOLE CARTMELL ANCHOR CHRISTIAN BRYANT   The beloved face behind the well-known “Dear Abby” column passed away Wednesday in Minneapolis. Pauline Phillips was 94. MSNBC remembers her as a huge success. “... Her advice column would become the most widely syndicated column in the world... Her advice was beloved for its wit, humor, and practicality.” The New York Times reports in 1956 Phillips contacted the editor of The San Francisco Chronicle saying she could write a better advice column than what the paper already had. Her column was a forum for public discussion of private problems. And her reach has continued to grow since Phillips first began. Today, Dear Abby appears in about 1,400 newspapers worldwide, has a daily readership of more than 110 million — in print and on its interactive Web site, dearabby.com — and receives more than 10,000 letters and e-mails a week. The New York Times says... “It is difficult to overstate the column’s influence on American culture at midcentury and afterward: in popular parlance, ‘Dear Abby’ was for decades an affectionate synonym for a trusted, if slightly campy, confidante.” Phillips struggled with Alzheimer’s disease for years. In the mid-1990s she began co-writing her column with her daughter Jeanne. As the illness progressed, Jeanne took it over completely. Phillips retired officially in 2002. “ In a statement to TMZ, Jeanne says ... “I have lost my mother, my mentor and my best friend. My mother leaves very big high heels to fill with a legacy of compassion,commitment and positive social change. I will honor her memory every day by continuing this legacy.” People Magazine reports Phillips is survived by her two children, her husband of 73 years Mort Phillips, four grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. We’ll leave you this beautiful tidbit she professed in 1964:   "The purpose of life is to amount to something and have it make some difference that you lived at all."