Article: Mary Kay Ash, founder of cosmetics empire, dies at 83.(The Dallas Morning News)

DALLAS _ Mary Kay Wagner Ash, who parlayed a hide tanner's cream and the color pink into a multimillion-dollar global cosmetics empire, died Thursday afternoon of complications of a stroke at her Dallas residence.

The 83-year-old grande dame of direct marketing was chairman emeritus of Mary Kay Inc., the business she founded in 1963 with $5,000 in savings.

A child of Houston's poor Sixth Ward, Ash lifted the fortunes and esteem of legions of women who joined her cause as beauty consultants. She and her Mary Kay enthusiasm defined the company, even after a stroke effectively ended her career in February 1996.

"She was an extraordinary business ...

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