Sheila Michaels, who brought 'Ms.' to prominence, dies at 78

The honorific has become ubiquitous throughout North America, Britain and the English-speaking world

Sheila Michaels, who half a century ago, wielding two consonants and a period, changed the way modern women are addressed, died on June 22 in Manhattan. Ms. Michaels, who introduced the honorific “Ms.” into common parlance, was 78.

The cause was acute leukemia, said Howard Nathanson, a cousin.

Ms. Michaels, who over the years worked as a civil-rights organizer, New York cabdriver, technical editor, oral historian and Japanese restaurateur, did not coin “Ms.,” nor did she ever claim to have done so.

But, working quietly, with little initial support from the women’s movement, she was midwife to the term, ushering it back into