Playboy founder Hugh Hefner dies

Hugh Marston Hefner, publishing tycoon, consummate 1960s era “hipster,” and amoral purveyor of smut, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 91. Chicago born and raised by Methodist parents, Hefner quit his advertising copywriting job in 1952 and with $8,000 launched Playboy a year later. The debut featured nude photos of then-unknown Marilyn Monroe and sold 50,000 copies. Twenty years later, monthly circulation peaked at 7 million. A stylized logo—inspired by a childhood blanket covered with bunnies—represented Hefner’s global brand built around promiscuity. Profits funded liberal causes like abortion and gay rights. For 15 years, Playboy’s headquarters stood a block from Chicago’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese, but Hefner moved himself and its operations to California in 1975. Hefner’s body likely will remain in his adopted “City of Angels,” in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Corridor of Memories, Crypt 24, beside the above-ground plot containing the remains of Norma Jeane Baker (Monroe’s real name), actress and so-called “sex goddess” who helped launch Hefner’s earthly empire. In a 2012 interview with A&E, Hefner said, “I’m one of the luckiest guys on the planet.” Hefner is survived by his wife, Crystal, and four children, Christie, David, Marston, and Cooper, and three grandchildren.