Frances Loeb Lear

Frances Lear, a mercurial figure in the media world who spent some $25 million she received in a divorce settlement from Norman Lear to start a magazine named after herself, died in October 1996 at her home in Manhattan. She was 73. She was married for 28 years to Norman Lear, the highly successful television producer of series like ''All in the Family'' and ''Maude.'' Her divorce settlement from Mr. Lear, an amount variously estimated to be between $100 million and $112 million, was one of the largest ever recorded at the time. It is generally considered -- and she herself claimed -- that she was the inspiration for Maude, the feisty and opinionated title character played by Bea Arthur. Lear's began publication in 1988 and was a success. It began with a circulation base of 250,000 and grew to 350,000 in a year. Although circulation was more than 500,000 in its final months, Lear's ceased publication in March 1994. It had lost an estimated $25 million to $30 million in its six years of operation. Ms. Lear was born on July 14, 1923, at the Vanderheusen Home for Wayward Girls in Hudson, N.Y., the child of an unwed mother and an unknown father. She was adopted after 14 months in an orphanage by Aline and Herbert Loeb of Larchmont, N.Y. She had two short-lived marriages before she met Mr. Lear. She was 33 and a buyer for better active sportswear at Lord & Taylor when she married Mr. Lear. She is survived by her two daughters, Maggie Beth Lear and Kate Breckir Lear (who is married to Dr. Jonathan LaPook), both of Manhattan, and two grandsons.