The NY Times has learned that Naomi Sims, the world’s first black supermodel, died of cancer in Newark, New Jersery on Saturday. She was 61.

Sims broke barriers when she appeared on the cover of Ladies Home Journal in 1968 — becoming the first African-American model to do so on a mainstream women’s magazine.

Later in life, Sims expanded her business to include cosmetics and fragrances, and wrote advice novels, including How to be a Top Model and All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman, published in 1986.

She is survived by her son Robert, her daughter, Betty, and a granddaughter.