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The Bronx-born Myerson, who served as Koch's commissioner of
cultural affairs and often appeared with him holding his hand,
died on Dec. 14 at her Santa Monica, California, residence, Los
Angeles County assistant chief coroner Ed Winter said on Monday.
His office did not have information on the cause of death.
In 1945 Myerson became the first Miss New York to win the title
of Miss America. She also was the first - and so far only -
Jewish Miss America.
The following year she married Allan Wayne, a Navy captain, and
gave birth to her only child, Barbara, before the marriage broke
up a decade later.
Her varied career included such jobs as a panelist for the
television game show "I've Got a Secret," commercial pitch woman
and New York City's first consumer affairs commissioner,
appointed by Mayor John Lindsay.
Her political career included advising three presidents. She
served on Lyndon Johnson's White House conference on crime and
violence, Gerald Ford's board focusing on workplace issues and
Jimmy Carter's commissions on mental health and world hunger.
Myerson made an unsuccessful bid for a New York U.S. Senate seat
in 1980 but lost the Democratic nomination to U.S.
Representative Elizabeth Holtzman.
In the years afterward, Myerson became entangled in a scandal
the tabloids called "The Bess Mess," in which she was indicted
in a bribery scandal involving her boyfriend, sewer contractor
Carl Andrew Capasso, who was accused of bribing a judge by
offering the jurist's daughter a job in Myerson's city
department. Myerson was ultimately acquitted after resigning her
city posts.
Amid the scandal, she also faced charges of shoplifting $44.07
worth of merchandise in a small town in Pennsylvania in 1988.
(Writing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Trott)
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