The television star, who died on Friday at age 99, shared an image of the celebrity weekly\u2019s tribute to her earlier this week.<\/b>
\nFor months, editors at People magazine had been zeroing in on Betty White for an end-of-year cover article. Her 100th birthday was coming up on Jan.17, and readers always seemed to warm to her self-deprecating, slightly naughty observations. As the toast of social media in recent years, Ms. White appealed to old and young. By mid-December, Liz McNeil, a 29-year-veteran of the magazine, and a new colleague, Dory Jackson, were collaborating on the piece, with Ms. White responding to questions via email, according to Wendy Naugle, People\u2019s deputy editor. On Dec.23, editors closed the issue. It hit newsstands on Wednesday and began arriving in subscriber mailboxes on Friday. Next to a glossy photograph of Ms. White, her eyes twinkling, the People trumpets sounded: \u201c Betty White Turns 100! \u201d Ms. White died on Friday morning. She was 99. As tributes began to wash across Twitter, with fans celebrating Ms. White\u2019s comedic performances on \u201cThe Golden Girls\u201d and \u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,\u201d People also began to trend. Some fans blamed the magazine for jinxing Ms. White. (In addition to its weekly issue, People also marked her impending centennial with a commemorative issue entirely devoted to her seven-decade career.) Others were pleased that Ms. White, known for her devilish sense of humor and impeccable comedic timing, had seemed to have pulled off one last laugh. Dan Wakeford, People\u2019s editor, was in London when he got the word that Ms. White had died, turning his cover into a Hall of Fame example of the risk of reporting something that hasn\u2019t quite happened yet. (The most infamous example remains the Chicago Daily Tribune\u2019s decision in 1948 to mistakenly announce that \u201cDewey Defeats Truman.\u201d) Perhaps adding insult to injury, a competing celebrity news outlet, TMZ.com, broke the news of Ms. White\u2019s death, citing anonymous law enforcement sources. Still, People was able to get the first official confirmation \u2014 from her agent, Jeff Witjas, who had helped arrange the interview. \u201cEven though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,\u201d Mr. Witjas told the magazine. \u201cI will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much.\u201d People then posted a comment from Mr. Wakeford on its Twitter account. \u201cWe are deeply saddened by the news of Betty White\u2019s passing,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are honored that she recently chose to work with People to celebrate her extraordinary life and career.\u201d Speaking by phone, Ms. Naugle said she and other staffers were \u201call in shock.\u201d Ms. White, she noted, on Tuesday had shared an image of her 100th-birthday cover with her 1.3 million Twitter followers. \u201cPeople Magazine is celebrating with me!\u201d the post read. It turned out to be Ms. White\u2019s last post. In one from Dec.15, she promoted a documentary, \u201cBetty White: 100 Years Young,\u201d which was scheduled to be shown in theaters on Jan.17. \u201cI\u2019m going BIG for my birthday \u2014 right to the BIG SCREEN!\u201d Ms. White had said. The film\u2019s producers, Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein, said the film will come out as scheduled. \u201cBetty always said she was the \u2018luckiest broad on two feet\u2019 to have had a career as long as she did,\u201d they said in a statement. \u201cAnd honestly, we were the lucky ones to have had her for so long.\u201d Asked to reconcile the sadness of Ms. White\u2019s death with the whoops of the cover, Ms. Naugle looked on the bright side. \u201cI think fans will be touched to know that she was funny and in good spirits right until the end,\u201d she said. Ms. White had quipped to People, for instance, that her longevity could be attributed, in part, to her diet. \u201cI try to avoid anything green,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n