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{{Short description|American journalist and author (1936–2023)}}{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}

factoids

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.202371|3}}| death_place = Basel, Switzerland| occupation = Journalist and authorHarold Edwards (mathematician)>Dr. Harold Edwards| alma_mater = Sarah Lawrence College}}Betty Rollin (January 3, 1936 – November 7, 2023) was an American journalist and author who was an NBC News correspondent. As a reporter, she won both the DuPont and Emmy awards, and she contributed reports for PBS. She also wrote two memoirs: First, You Cry, about her experiences with breast cancer, and Last Wish, about her mother having terminal cancer and helping her die through assisted suicide.

Background

Rollin was born in New York City in 1936.NEWS, Betty Rollin, Who Wrote Candidly About Her Breast Cancer, Dies at 87,weblink November 25, 2023, The New York Times, November 24, 2023, Sandomir, Richard, limited, She was a graduate of Fieldston Ethical Culture School and Sarah Lawrence College, where she was a classmate of Yoko Ono, as Ono mentioned on the Dick Cavett Show.WEB,weblink The Dick Cavett Show: John & Yoko Collection | PopMatters, January 16, 2014, March 4, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160304124304weblink">weblink dead, Rollin's first interest was acting; she studied under Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg and briefly worked in theatre. However, she soon pursued a career as a journalist instead. She wrote for Vogue in the mid-1960s and for Look from 1966 until its closure in 1971. Thereafter, she began a career in TV journalism, working for NBC News from the early 1970s until 1982, and for ABC News from 1982 to 1984. She also contributed to PBS's Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly for over a decade.

Books

First, You Cry

Rollin was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1975, and again in 1984, each time losing a breast to the disease. Rollin discussed her cancer publicly and wrote about it in the book, First, You Cry.WEB, Harper Collins,weblink August 4, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121021031906weblink">weblink October 21, 2012, dead, to encourage public awareness and to give encouragement to others facing this disease.NEWS, At Lunch with--Betty Rollin; After First Crying, Laughing at Cancer, Belkin, Lisa, The New York Times,weblink March 10, 1993, First, You Cry was made into a television movie starring Mary Tyler Moore as Rollin.

Last Wish

Rollin's mother Ida was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer in 1981, and Rollin helped her mother end her life in 1983. She revealed this in her book Last Wish,NEWS, Helping Her Mother Die, Jacoby, Susan, The New York Times,weblink September 8, 1985, published in 1985 and republished in 1998. One critic called it "a document of personal compassion and public importance." The book has been published in 19 countries and was made into a TV movie in 1992 starring Patty Duke as Rollin and Maureen Stapleton as her mother.After the book was published, Rollin was active in the death with dignity movement, and served on the advisory board of Compassion and Choices.

Personal life and death

Rollin lived with her husband, mathematician Harold Edwards, in Manhattan until his death in 2020. They had no children. Rollin's health declined after her husband's death, and she died by assisted suicide at the Pegasos Swiss Association in Basel on November 14, 2023, at the age of 87.

Books

• I Thee Wed (1961)
• Mothers Are Funnier Than Children (1964)
• First, You Cry (1976) {{ISBN|0-06-095630-5}}
• Last Wish (1985) {{ISBN|1-891620-01-0}}
• Am I Getting Paid for This?: A Romance About Work (1986) {{ISBN|0-451-14442-2}}
• Here's the Bright Side: Of Failure, Fear, Cancer, Divorce, and Other Bum Raps (2007) {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6565-3}}

References

{{reflist}}

See also

• Betty Rollin website
• Death with Dignity National Center

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