Hugh Hefner, the owner and publisher of Playboy, has an interesting background. He was born in Chicago in 1926 and went to the University of Chicago at Urbana in Illinois. He majored in psychology with minors in creative writing and sociology, and graduated in three years. He then went on to do graduate work at Northwestern University where he studied sociology of women and gender studies. Hugh Hefner never got a graduate degree.
He worked at various positions, and after he was denied a $5 raise at Esquire, where he worked as a copywriter, he decided he would launch Playboy. He sold $600 worth of his furniture and raised $8,000 from 45 investors, and the rest is history. Hugh Hefner was married for 10 years in his early adult life, and had two children. After his divorce, he became the world's most famous womanizer. He subsequently married another woman, and they were together for 10 years before separating. She and Hugh Hefner have yet to divorce each other, however. Hugh Hefner has donated many millions of dollars to the University of Southern California's film department.
