North Dakota newspaper columnist whose Olive Garden review went viral dies at 99

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Marilyn Hagerty, a North Dakota newspaper columnist whose earnest became a social media sensation, died Tuesday. She was 99.

Hagerty died at a hospital in Grand Forks of complications related to a stroke she had suffered, her daughter Gail Hagerty said. She was always a journalist at heart who took the effort to get to know people and the community, her daughter said.

“When she wanted to talk about restaurants, she wanted to write not some kind of critical review, but instead tell people what they would expect if they went to a particular restaurant,” Gail Hagerty said.

Marilyn Hagerty was born May 30, 1926, in Pierre, South Dakota. Her career in newspapers began while she was in high school, assisting the editor of the Pierre Capital Journal and writing city briefs, according to a 2014 interview with oral historian Teri Finneman.

She earned a journalism degree from the University of South Dakota, of which she was quite proud, her daughter said. She was a journalist and was actively writing for more than 70 years.

Her 2012 Olive Garden review — in which she praised the chicken Alfredo as “warm and comforting on a cold day” — was “unique and authentic, coming from a grandmother in North Dakota” who did not change her tone or approach based on attention she received; she was just herself, Gail Hagerty said.

Her mother’s review called Olive Garden “the largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks.”

“As I ate, I noticed the vases and planters with permanent flower displays on the ledges. There are several dining areas with arched doorways. And there is a fireplace that adds warmth to the decor,” she wrote.

The earnest review spread on social media and drew national media attention to the columnist.

“She was everywhere and she loved it and it was a wonderful experience, although she had to ask my brother what does it mean if you go viral. She didn’t know that,” her daughter said. “She used to say that if you were going to have 15 minutes of fame and if you were 86, you had to do it soon. You couldn’t wait.”

The media attention even drew in famed chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain, who defended Hagerty on Twitter from those who ridiculed her embrace of the Olive Garden chain’s food. He met with her and went on to publish a book of her columns, also writing its foreword.

In her oral history interview, Hagerty said the response to her review was unbelievable, including countless emails and phone calls as well as TV interviews and a tour of New York City.

“But most of all, it was people feeling in defense and people praising me for the way I write the Eatbeat. And — I wrote that Eatbeat column so fast one day that I never expected it to be repeated all over the country, but that’s what happened,” she said in the interview.

Hagerty was beloved in Grand Forks due to her long career and community involvement, and in 2002 a lift station was dedicated and named in her honor. Hagerty arrived at the ceremony on a restaurant owner’s motorcycle, her daughter said.

“I’m going to leave some flowers there this evening,” Gail Hagerty said.

Hagerty was writing at least occasionally for the Grand Forks Herald until last year.