Gretchen Edgren

Gretchen Edgren, 84, a longtime Playboy magazine editor, died September 16 at home in Holmes Beach, Florida. Before her semiretirement in 1992, Ms. Edgren was a Senior Editor of Playboy, and subsequently served as Contributing Editor until 2013. She was the author of five coffee-table books about Playboy, its Playmates and the Playboy Mansion. Ms. Edgren was born Gretchen Grondahl March 17, 1931, in Portland, Oregon, and was a member of the Pendleton High School class of 1948. After graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Oregon, she worked on newspapers The Oregonian in Portland and the San Juan Star in Puerto Rico. She moved to Florida in 1992 from Oak Park, IL, where she was a president of the Civic Arts Council, served on the boards of the Oak Park Concert Chorale and Village Players and sang with the Oak Park Concert Chorale, Heritage Chorale, Civic Symphony Chorus and the choirs of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Oak Park, and Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest. In Florida, she joined the Anna Maria Island Concert Chorus, Musica Sacra Cantorum and the choir of the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation. She was a member of the board of directors of Anna Maria Island's ecumenical group All Island Denominations and was active in local chapters of Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Delta Delta. She and her late husband, Alvin "Bud" Edgren, served for a dozen years as coordinators of the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch program. Survivors include a daughter, Amy McNeese-Mecham of Edinburgh, Scotland; a son, Terence J. McNeese of Chicago; sister Molly Beiningen of Milwaukie, OR; stepchildren Amanda McNeese of Jonestown, TX; Karl Edgren of Canton, CT; and Cathy Raymond of Wood Dale, IL. Services are scheduled for 11:00 A.M., Saturday, September 26 at the Church of the Annunciation in Holmes Beach. Memorial contributions may be made to the church, 4408 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, FL 34217; the Anna Maria Island Concert Chorus and Orchestra, P.O. Box 1213, Holmes Beach, FL 34218; Musica Sacra Cantorum, P.O. Box 50581, Sarasota, FL 34232; the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch, 2214 Avenue B, Bradenton Beach, FL 34217; or WSMR, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, FL 33620-6870.