Life Story: Vicki Lansky
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Plymouth woman made Minnesota proud when she became a nationally-known parenting expert.
Vicki Lansky was the author of more than 20 books as well as a columnist for newspapers and magazines. Lansky's parenting advice was so popular during the 1980s and 1990s, she became a regular guest on national television shows like Oprah.
Those who knew Vicki best say her research was based on her own experience as a mom.
She was a calm voice of reason for parents looking for advice on how to care for their little ones. Vicki Lansky was an early advocate of homemade, natural baby food.
"The first book was a total accident. That was 'Feed Me, I'm Yours,'" she said in a 1989 interview. "It began as a fundraising cookbook for our local childbirth education association."
Bruce Lansky was Vicki's husband at the time.
"It was more than just baby food, it was about babies crying at night, it was about a lot of things," he said.
"Feed Me, I'm Yours" became so popular in 1975, the couple decided to start their own publishing company. Meadowbrook Press is named after the street they lived on in Plymouth with their two young children.
"She was a terrific mom," Bruce said.
In 1978, Vicki's second book landed on The New York Times best-seller list. She called it "Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster" (Continuously Advertised Nutritionally-Deficient Yummies).
"We actually ate that stuff, and to a large extent, me and our kids were actually testing those things," Bruce said.
It wasn't long before Family Circle and Sesame Street magazine came calling.
"When I was first being interviewed for the column, they basically said 'we'd like for you be a cross between Heloise and Ann Landers,'" Vicki said in 1989. "And I said, 'Oh wow, everybody's dream job!'"
Then she started showing up on local and national TV, with appearances on The Today Show, Oprah and CNN.
"She was told she didn't look sophisticated enough," Bruce said. "That was actually the secret of her appeal. She was regular. She was the lady next door."
Even when divorce rattled her world, Vicki wrote a book about it.
"Divorce doesn't devastate kids, people do," Vicki said in an interview. "How you handle your conflict, resolve your conflict is really going to affect your kids."
"People saw her as a great person whom they just plain liked," Bruce said, "but also as someone who was going to bat for them and providing them with information they didn't have previously."
More than 3 million copies of "Feed Me I'm Yours" have since been sold since 1975. Vicki Lansky was 75 years old when she died last week.
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