Winnfred Wilford — A Life in Light and Quiet Corners

Basic Information

A Voice I Found in the Margins — Early Life & Family

I like to begin with the small, human details — names on a funeral card, a line in an obituary, a daughter’s name stamped beside a husband’s. Winnfred Wilford’s life reads like that: specific, quietly textured, the kind of story that shows up in a chapter of cultural history rather than on the front page.

He was born in 1939, the son of Mollie Alexander Wilford and Louis Wendell Wilford — names that tether him to family and place. Family, it turns out, is a through line: he was brother to Carl and Johnny, and to Roena I.; father to Robin Benton-Logan and three sons — Danton, Toland, and Bryant — and grandfather to at least three young women: Brittany, Brooke, and Briahnna. Those relationships — the formal roll call of kin — tell you where the quiet gravity of his life sat. By the numbers: four children, three granddaughters, three siblings listed; a constellation, not a headline.

Below is a compact table I like to imagine pinned to the inside of a jacket — quick references for the people who mattered most.

Career: From Ford’s Flash to Epic’s Boardroom

If you trace the silhouette of his professional life, two images appear like film stills: a young man in front of the camera and a man working the circuits of the music business. He’s described as one of the early African-American male models to be signed by Ford Models — imagine the early industry lights, the developing shots, a world opening up where there hadn’t been many openings before. That is an image that pops off the page: fashion’s margins meeting mainstream machinery.

Later, he moved into music — not as the artist under the spotlight, but as the person arranging the lights and the PR narrative. The record reads that he served in publicity and artist affairs for Epic Records, with a reported vice-presidential role in special markets. Titles like “Vice-President, Publicity & Artist Affairs” have a very particular texture: phone lists, press kits, late nights backstage, and the rhythm of press cycles. He also managed and publicized recording artists, a role that requires both the charm of a talent whisperer and the grit of a negotiator.

Numbers: two major industry touchpoints (Ford Models; Epic Records), a career spanning decades that moved from modeling to executive roles, and published writing — he penned pieces for the Baton Rouge News Leader in a column called “New York and Other Points,” which signals that he kept a hand in storytelling, in chronicling the places he knew.

Marriage, Public Life, and a Pop-Culture Sidebar

Here’s a cinematic cut: Winnfred married Debbie Allen in 1975; they were together until 1983. That intersection places him, briefly but clearly, inside a larger pop culture narrative — Debbie Allen being a major figure on stage and screen, a choreographer and actress with television and Broadway clout. The years 1975–1983 are compact but significant: late 1970s and early 1980s, an era of shifting media, disco’s fade and the rise of MTV’s visual grammar; for anyone with ties to modeling and music, it would have been a charged time.

But his life was not reducible to that chapter. Post-marriage, he continued to work in music business circles, and later in life he returned to Baton Rouge with his wife Saundra for health and home reasons, the kind of ending that feels quietly domestic after bright professional arcs.

Later Years, Legacy & What We Don’t Have

He died on February 9, 2019. That date closes the ledger but opens the archive: obituaries, family notices, and a scattering of posts and references that collect a public memory. There is no verified net-worth figure publicly available — a detail that matters because, for many people who do the work behind the scenes, the ledger doesn’t translate into public celebrity dollars.

His legacy reads like partial records and warm family names: early modeling credits; a senior role in a major label’s publicity apparatus; bylines in local writing. Legacy is not only trophies and press releases — sometimes it’s a daughter’s name printed under a photo at a wake, three granddaughters who will tell stories, siblings who remember the sound of his laugh.

FAQ

When was Winnfred Wilford born and when did he die?

He was born in 1939 and passed away on February 9, 2019.

Was Winnfred Wilford married to Debbie Allen?

Yes — he was married to Debbie Allen from 1975 to 1983.

What were his main careers?

He worked as an early Ford Models male model, as a music-industry executive in publicity and artist affairs (reported at Epic Records), and as a manager/publicist and writer.

How many children did he have?

He had four children: one daughter, Robin Benton-Logan, and three sons — Danton, Toland, and Bryant Wilford.

Are there any grandchildren listed?

Yes — at least three granddaughters are named: Brittany Logan, Brooke Wright-Logan, and Briahnna Logan.

Is there a publicly reported net worth?

No reliable or verified public net-worth figure is available.

Where did he spend his later years?

He returned to Baton Rouge with his wife Saundra in his later years.

Are there public writings by him?

Yes, he wrote local pieces — including a column titled “New York and Other Points” for a Baton Rouge publication.