Singer/actress Kaye Stevens, a longtime resident and commercial champion of Margate, Florida, died Wednesday at the Villages Hospital, north of Orlando. She was 79.Stevens had been battling breast cancer and blood clots, according to Gerry Schweitzer, a close friend.
Stevens is credited with helping to put Margate on the map. The community's developer, Jack Marquesee, hired her to do the first commercials for Margate in the mid-'50s. She went above and beyond, often mentioning the town during her TV appearances. She once quipped on Johnny Carson's THE TONIGHT SHOW that the entrance and exit signs for Margate are back to back.