Helen Lenore Van Slyke was born in Washington on July 9, 1919. At 14 she began working for a newspaper and at about 19 she became fashion editor of The Washington Star. At the time, she was regarded as the youngest editor on a major American newspaper. She did not attend college. After leaving The Star, she held a string of executive jobs. She was beauty editor and promotion director for Glamour magazine, promotion and advertising director for Henri Bendel and vice president and creative director for Norman, Craig & Kummel, an advertising agency.
Mrs. Van Slyke was president of the House of Fragrance in 1963, becoming one of the few women chief executives of corporations whose annual sales exceeded $1 million. The post from which she left to devote full time to writing was as vice president of creative activities at Helena Rubinstein's. Mrs. Van Slyke was also a president of the Fashion Group, 4,000 member organization to help women in that industry.
Adept at identifying women's tastes, she decided in 1970 to apply her talent to writing. Van Slyke produced eight hugely successful modern romances, including the current blockbuster A Necessary Woman, devised, she said, for "blue-haired ladies in the cocktail hour of life.".
