Trailblazing Jamaican-American supermodel turned journalist Gail O’Neill has died at the age of 60.
Her death was confirmed on Thursday by her agency through fashion magazine Vogue. The agency did not disclose her cause of death.
The daughter of Jamaican immigrants and one of three siblings, O’Neill was considered one of the elite Black models in the world.
She was discovered in 1985 by photographer Chuck Barry in New York shortly after graduating from Wesleyan University.
Throughout her international career, she scored the covers of several magazines including Essence, Glamour, Elle, Vogue, and Mademoiselle, as well as worked for companies such as J. Crew and Nordstrom She was also a spokesperson for Liz Claiborne.
During the 1980s, she was regarded as an A-list fashion model because of her frequent appearances in fashion magazines.
One of her career’s most talked about highlights was landing the 1992 cover of the coveted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
O’Neill’s journalism career
During the 1990s, O’Neill began her career as a journalist, with appearances on several major TV networks. She was an original correspondent for CBS’s The Early Show, which debuted in 1999.
Subsequently, she appeared as a host of CNN’s weekly Travel Now series. She also served CNN as a correspondent covering other events.
From 2004 to 2006, she hosted HGTV’s Mission Organization, where she matched professional organizers with those in need of organization and remodeling.
O’Neill continued to model actively even after making the transition to journalism. One of her last major campaigns was the 2009 Spring/Summer Calvin Klein ckOne fragrance campaign. She had also posed for Vogue Italia’s popular Black Issue.
