Esther Gordy Edwards, Motown Museum Founder and Label Exec, Dead at 91

Esther Gordy Edwards, a Motown executive who turned the famed studio into a museum, died of natural causes on Wednesday, Aug. 24. She was 91.

The sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr., Edwards served as the label's vice president and chief executive officer in the mid-'60s. As her brother put it in a statement, she was "a top Motown executive, businesswoman, civil and political leader, who received numerous awards, commendations and accolades. She was the most educated in our family and was the go-to person for wisdom in business."

In 1988, Gordy sold Motown and Edwards turned the Detroit building into the Motown Museum. "Esther turned the so-called trash left behind after I sold the company in 1988 into a phenomenal world-class monument where Hitsville started-The Motown Museum," Gordy said. "She preserved Motown memorabilia before it was memorabilia, collecting our history long before we knew we were making it."

Stevie Wonder, one of the label's many successes, also released a statement on Edwards: "She believed in me. When I was 14 years old and many other people didn't or could only see what they could at the time, she championed me being in Motown. I shared with her many of my songs first before anyone else. She was like another mother to me, she was an extension of that same kind of motherly love."

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