EDITOR’S NOTE: The original version of this story misstated Ms. Upton’s role with the Grand Rapids Community Media Center. She was a much-appreciated board member, not a founding member. This text stands corrected.
UNDATED (WHTC-AM/FM) — Women’s LifeStyle Magazine founder and publisher Victoria Upton died early this morning, according to a Facebook post by her daughter Charice Upton-Brown
Ms. Upton was diagnosed with brain cancer more than a year ago.
Upton founded Women’s LifeStyle more 20 years ago, and became known for her relentlessly upbeat and optmisitc outlook.
In addtion to her magazine, she volunteered at many Grand Rapids institutions — from Art Prize to Spectrum Health Community Engagement, GROW, Gilda’s Club, American Heart Association, Grand JazzFest, to name just a few.
She has been honored by the Van Andel Institute, the American Heart Association and the Grand Rapids Legacy award, among others.
She was a board member at the Grand Rapids Community Media Center and student art at Kendall College, humanites at MSU and attended WMU. She graduated from Ottawa Hills High School.
“We will so miss her and all she meant to us as a volunteer radio programmer and board member for several years,” wrote Linda Gellasch, the Grand Rapids Community Media Center’s executive director, in an email to WHTC.
