Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner Dies At 91
September 27, 2017 10:26 PM
(credit: RICH SCHMITT/AFP/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine whose life epitomized the style the magazine portrayed for more than 60, died Wednesday of natural causes, the company said.
He was 91.
Hefner became American icon who in 1953 introduced the world to Playboy magazine and built the company into one of the most recognizable American global brands in history. He peacefully passed away at his home, The Playboy Mansion, surrounded by loved ones, the company said in a news release.
Starting from his kitchen table 64 years ago, Hefner’s vision drove the creation of not just the iconic and groundbreaking magazine, but what has become one of the world’s most enduring and recognizable brands, the release said. In the process, Playboy became the largest-selling and most influential men’s magazine in the world, spawning a number of successful global businesses. To this day, the magazine is published in more than 20 countries around the world and products featuring the company’s trademarks drive more than $1 billion in sales annually.
“My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom. He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history. He will be greatly missed by many, including his wife Crystal, my sister Christie and my brothers David and Marston, and all of us at Playboy Enterprises,” said Cooper Hefner, chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises.
After serving in the Army, attending college and working for number of years in the magazine publishing industry, Hefner became convinced that there was a market for an upscale men’s magazine, the company said. By putting up his furniture as collateral for a loan and borrowing the rest from family and friends, Hefner published the very first issue of Playboy in December of 1953. The magazine was an instant sensation.
From the very start, Playboy was about more than just the beautiful women featured in its pages, the company said. Hefner took a progressive approach not only to sexuality and humor, but also to literature, politics and culture. Within its pages, Playboy published fiction by such writers as Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, John Updike, Ian Fleming, Joseph Heller, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Margaret Atwood, Jack Kerouac and Kurt Vonnegut.
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