Eileen Ford, maverick of the modeling industry, dies at 92

Eileen Ford, the founder of the Ford Models who promoted the fresh-faced look of American women and set the stage for the phenomenon of celebrity super models, has died at the age of 92, the agency said on Thursday. Ford died on Wednesday from complications from meningioma and osteoporosis, the agency said. Since starting the Manhattan agency with husband Jerry in 1946, Ford showed she had an eye for talent, discovering Candice Bergen in the 1960s and Lauren Hutton in the 1970s, and signing precocious beauty Brooke Shields as child. “Eileen’s contributions to the modeling and fashion industries are unmatched,” Ford Models said in a statement announcing her death.