The shaggy-haired portrait of Tom Cruise on this month's Harper's Bazaar cover was one of the last pictures editor Liz Tilberis, who died of cancer recently, picked out for the magazine.

Working from home until days before she died, Tilberis took her last meeting in the livingroom like a fashion pro: Decked out in cashmere from head to toe.

"She didn't want to give up, even though she was very, very ill," says fashion editor Tonne Goodman. "The magazine was like a child for her."

Cruise's pretty looks were a pretty good choice, I'd say, if one had to choose one of God's creations to last gaze upon.

But her co-workers were used to providing happy faces for their boss during meetings at the hospital whenever Tilberis recovered from surgeries.

"The staff would all wear those surgical masks and we'd be laughing so hard," recalls Goodman. "It was never a question of being morose around Liz. She never sought out any kind of drama, she never felt sorry for herself, she was positive -- always. And she did not like to see anybody around her who was not positive."


More Artists