Irene Kampen

Who was Irene Kampen?

Irene Kampen was an American newspaperwoman and writer who wrote several books about events in her life.

Born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Great Neck, New York, she graduated from Great Neck High School. Kampen attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison before becoming a copy girl at the newspaper New York Journal American and then went on to work at several weekly newspapers.

She moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1954 and divorced her husband after an 11-year marriage. While working at her father's flower shop in New York City, she wrote fiction stories. She also frequently contributed to the local newspaper, The Ridgefield Press, using the pseudonym, H. Loomis Fenstermacher.

Kampen's first book, Life Without George, was published by Doubleday in 1961 and was about her divorce. The book became the basis for The Lucy Show, a TV series that ran from 1962 to 1968 and starred Lucille Ball, who had also experienced divorce recently in her split with Desi Arnaz. She lived in Connecticut until 1988, when she moved to California. Kampen died February 1, 1998 from breast cancer at the age of 75.