Marilyn Hagerty

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Marilyn Hagerty
Hansen in 1946
Born
Marilyn Gail Hansen

(1926-05-30)May 30, 1926
Pierre, South Dakota, U.S.
DiedSeptember 16, 2025(2025-09-16) (aged 99)
Grand Forks, North Dakota, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of South Dakota
OccupationNewspaper columnist
Spouse
Jack Hagerty
​
​
(m. 1949; died 1997)​
Children3
AwardsAl Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media (2012)

Marilyn Gail Hagerty (née Hansen; May 30, 1926 – September 16, 2025) was an American newspaper columnist writing for the Grand Forks Herald. She was with the paper from 1957, when her husband, Jack Hagerty, became editor of the paper, until 2024.[1] She garnered a measure of fame in March 2012 when her review[2] of a new Olive Garden restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota, was noticed by online news aggregators and became an overnight sensation among both critics and admirers. Anthony Bourdain announced plans to publish Hagerty, and his imprint Anthony Bourdain/Ecco Books subsequently issued her 2013 book, Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews, for which Bourdain wrote the foreword.[3][4]

Hagerty was awarded the 2012 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media.[5] In 2017, Hagerty received the UND Spirit Award, bestowed by the UND Alumni Association and Foundation.[6] She was awarded an honorary degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks in 2021.[7]

Background

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Marilyn Hansen was born in Pierre, South Dakota, on May 30, 1926.[1] She was of Danish descent. She married her husband Jack on June 19, 1949.[1] In addition to her son, James,[8] she and her husband had two daughters: Gail Hagerty (born 1953), former presiding judge of the South Central Judicial District of North Dakota (whose husband Dale Sandstrom was a justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court),[9][10][11] and Carol Werner (1954–2011), a lawyer.[12][13]

During the 1997 Grand Forks flood, Jack and Marilyn Hagerty evacuated to the Bismarck-Mandan area, where Jack died on June 13, 1997.[11]

In September 2021, at the age of 95, she was reported to be recovering from an unspecified medical procedure.[14] Hagerty died at a hospital in Grand Forks on September 16, 2025, at the age of 99 from complications of a stroke.[15][16]

Career

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Marilyn Hagerty, then Marilyn Hansen, began her career in the 1940s when she was a high school student and worked for the Pierre, South Dakota Capital Journal.[17] She graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of South Dakota, where she also wrote for their paper.[18]

She wrote her first article for the Grand Forks Herald in 1957, which was the year her husband, Jack Hagerty, became editor of the paper, and became a regular contributor to the paper in 1959.[1] By the 1970s, Hagerty had a regular column, and she also began a column of historical reminiscences, That Reminds Me. She was reviewing restaurants at least by 1976. She began writing her Eatbeat food column in 1986. She also wrote a Happenings column. She retired from full-time newspapering in 1991, but soon came back with a part-time schedule but a full-time workload.[1][17] Hagerty wrote five columns for the paper, and did not consider herself a food critic.[19] She wrote her last article for the paper in 2024.[1]

Hagerty received the 2012 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media.[5] Neuharth noted that Hagerty hired him for his first newspaper job at the University of South Dakota newspaper.[1] In 2017, the UND Alumni Association and Foundation bestowed the UND Spirit Award upon Hagerty.[6] She was awarded an honorary degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks in 2021.[7]

Hagerty appeared as a guest judge on the Top Chef: Seattle episode "Even the Famous Come Home".[20]

Collections

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Three collections of Hagerty's columns have been published:

  • Echoes: A Selection of Stories and Columns by Marilyn Hagerty (1994,[21] 246 pages, ISBN 0964286009)[22]
  • The Best of The Eatbeat with Marilyn Hagerty (2012, self-published e-book, ASIN B007JMW8GQ)[23]
  • Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews (2013, ISBN 9780062228895, foreword by Anthony Bourdain[4])

2012 Olive Garden review

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In March 2012, for her "Eatbeat" column, Hagerty wrote a review of a recently opened Olive Garden restaurant in Grand Forks. The review stated that "the chicken Alfredo ($10.95) was warm and comforting on a cold day", and calling the Olive Garden "the largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks".[2]

Blogs started linking to the review the day after it was published, due to the novelty of an unironic, seemingly positive review of a chain restaurant. In an interview, Hagerty said she was unfazed by the attention, though she found much of it "rather condescending".[24] She appeared on Anderson on March 20, 2012, and was interviewed on CNN and ABC.[25][26][27]

Her son James R. Hagerty, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, wrote an article in that newspaper about her newfound fame.[8] He noted that "She doesn't like to say anything bad" in her reviews, and "If she writes more about the décor than the food, you might want to eat somewhere else."[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Marilyn Hagerty, Herald reporter and columnist for nearly 70 years, dies at age 99". Grand Forks Herald. 16 September 2025. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b Marilyn Hagerty, THE EATBEAT: Long-awaited Olive Garden receives warm welcome Archived 2019-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, Grand Forks Herald, March 7, 2012.
  3. ^ "Bourdain to work with viral Olive Garden reviewer". CBS News. April 10, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Canavan, Hillary Dixler (August 19, 2013). "Here's Anthony Bourdain's Foreword to Marilyn Hagerty's Book 'Grand Forks'". Eater. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "National award for Grand Forks reviewer Marilyn Hagerty, All of Garden lover". StarTribune.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  6. ^ a b "Marilyn Hagerty left 'speechless' by UND Spirit Award". Grand Forks Herald. 2017-06-23. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  7. ^ a b "Marilyn Hagerty to receive honorary degree from UND". Grand Forks Herald. 2021-03-25. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  8. ^ a b c Hagerty, James R. (March 12, 2012). "When Mom Goes Viral". The A-Hed. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  9. ^ "Gail Hagerty: Surrogate Judge". State of North Dakota Courts. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  10. ^ "Judge Hagerty to Retire". State of North Dakota Courts. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Jack Hagerty Obituary". Legacy. June 13, 1997. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  12. ^ "Carol Hagerty Werner". The Bismarck Tribune. December 3, 2011. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
  13. ^ Dyer, Joe (December 6, 2011). "Carol Werner, 56". The Fort Morgan Times. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  14. ^ Marilyn Hagerty recuperating after operation, grandforksherald.com. Accessed August 26, 2022.
  15. ^ Cho, Kelly Kasulis; Brasch, Ben (September 17, 2025). "Marilyn Hagerty, who went viral reviewing an Olive Garden, dies at 99". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  16. ^ Dura, Jack (September 15, 2025). "North Dakota newspaper columnist whose Olive Garden review went viral dies at 99". AP News. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  17. ^ a b Bakken, Ryan (March 12, 2012). "Marilyn Hagerty: 'The Little Old Lady on Cottonwood Street'". Grand Forks Herald. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  18. ^ Wells, Pete (September 18, 2025). "Marilyn Hagerty, Whose Olive Garden Review Went Viral, Dies at 99". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  19. ^ Rao, Vidya (March 21, 2012). "Eric Ripert 'very happy' Marilyn Hagerty reviewed his restaurant'". Bites on Today. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  20. ^ Laussade, Alice (December 14, 2012). "Top Chef: Seattle Episode 6 Recap: Nobody Likes a Dry Taco". Dallas Observer. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  21. ^ (September 18, 1994). MARILYN HAGERTY'S WRITINGS GATHERED IN NEW BOOK, Grand Forks Herald
  22. ^ Hagerty, Marilyn (September 1994). Echoes; a Selection of Stories and Columns By Marilyn Hagerty (9780964286009): Books. Grand Forks Herald. ISBN 0964286009.
  23. ^ results, search. The Best of The Eatbeat with Marilyn Hagerty – via Amazon.
  24. ^ Marilyn Hagerty: Interview with genius Olive Garden reviewer Archived December 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, City Pages Blogs, Kevin Hoffman, March 8, 2012
  25. ^ "Anderson Reads Marilyn Hagerty's Olive Garden Review". 19 March 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  26. ^ "CNN, Only in America: The Olive Garden reviewer". 13 March 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  27. ^ "ABC, Olive Garden Review by Marilyn Hagerty of 'Eatbeat' Goes Viral". 10 March 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
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