‘Tough Pioneer’ Took Dubious Path to Top

The grist for Claudia Eller’s run-of-the-mill column “Remembering Dawn Steel, a Tough Pioneer” [The Biz, Dec. 23] is pure corn: One of the toughest and meanest executives the entertainment industry has ever known, reports Ms. Eller, was “really just a scared, deeply vulnerable and insecure little girl from Great Neck”--as if that explains and excuses everything.

Apparently the real Dawn Steel suffered from two strains of cancer--the one that killed her and the one that left its scars on the many targets of her harsh treatment and success-driven malignant orientation.

May her employees now find some rest and peace.

RUSS TRAVIS

Bakersfield