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Hugh Hefner, the founder of the international adult magazine, Playboy, has died, reportedly due to natural causes.

The 91-year-old is reported to have died peacefully at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday.

According to the BBC, Hugh’s son, Cooper has paid homage to his late father, saying that Hugh live an “exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer”.

“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,” Cooper Hefner, Playboy Enterprises’ chief creative officer, said

in the statement.
“He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognisable and enduring in history,” the son added.

Hugh began publishing Playboy magazine in 1953 and it went on to become the biggest selling men’s adult magazine in the world. The magazine created a niche upscale men’s magazine, combining images of nude women with in-depth articles, interviews and fiction by writers and subjects including Norman Mailer, Alex Haley, Bertrand Russell and Jimmy Carter.

He later founded his company, Playboy Enterprises Inc.

Hugh was known for living a grand life, throwing lavish parties in his mansion, always surrounded by his Playboy bunnies, and not forgetting those silk pyjamas.

He is survived by his wife, Crystal, who was 25 when he married her at age 85; sons, Cooper, David and Marston; and his daughter, Christie. — DailySun