Hugh Hefner, Founder Playboy Magazine Dies

Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine, has died aged 91, the company has said.

According to a company statement, Hefner passed away peacefully at his home, the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, the United States, and was surrounded by loved ones.

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Cooper Hefner, Hefner’s son and the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, said in a statement: “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.”

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Hefner was born in Chicago in 1926 to Methodist parents, served in the US army in the second world war, graduated from the University of Illinois and worked as a copywriter for Esquire.

He set up the Playboy magazine in 1953. The first issue, produced from his kitchen and financed with $8,000 from investors, sold more than 50,000 copies.

He built it into a multimillion-dollar empire that included TV shows and Playboy Clubs, the latter featuring cocktail waitresses dressed in bunny ears and fuzzy tails.

In 2016 the magazine stopped featuring nude models, an idea which was backed by Hefner.

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