Playboy Says Goodbye to Hugh Hefner By Making Him the First Man To Ever Grace the Magazine's Cover Solo
Following his Sept. 27 death, Hugh Hefner is being honored on the front cover of the publication he founded.
The cover of Playboy‘s November/December 2017 issue shows a side profile of Hefner, who was photographed by Larry Gordon back in 1965. The late publisher, who was born in 1926, was 39-years-old in the portrait.
The cover makes the late publisher the 11th man to ever be on the cover of the magazine and the first man ever to be on the cover without a female model present.
Hefner died two days before the issue was going to press, according to a statement from Playboy.
In addition to the front page, the first six pages of the issue are a celebration of the star’s life. Hefner’s son, Cooper, also writes a piece about his famous father.
The star of E! reality show The Girls Next Door died at his Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 91 surrounded by loved ones.
On Oct. 1, Hefner was laid to rest at Westwood Village Memorial Park in L.A. next to Marilyn Monroe. He had purchased the plot 25 years ago for $75,000.
“He is in the place he was always certain he wanted to spend eternity,” widow Crystal Hefner told PEOPLE exclusively in her first statements following his passing. “He was an American hero. A pioneer. A kind and humble soul who opened up his life and home to the world,” she added.
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, which featured a nude Monroe. The same year, Hefner launched media and lifestyle company Playboy Enterprises, Inc., on which he served as a board member until the time of his death.
A forthcoming 100-plus page special tribute to Hefner’s life will also be released.
