KALAMAZOO, MI -- Community icon Martha Gilmore Parfet, the granddaughter of W.E. Upjohn, has died.

Parfet died Monday morning, Feb. 20, at her home on Gull Lake from complications of heart disease, said her son, Donald Parfet. She was 91.

Donald Parfet said his mother lived a long and beautiful life.

"She had a kind heart and a generous spirit," he said. "She was very active in our community and she just always was imagining ways that she could help make our community better. She had a great fondness for nature, all things in the natural world, and was very passionate about environmental issues."

Parfet was the granddaughter of W.E. and Rachel Babcock Upjohn and James and Carrie Sherwood Gilmore of the Gilmore Brothers Department Store. W.E. Upjohn was founder of The Upjohn Co., which now is part of Pfizer. Her parents were Donald and Genevieve Gilmore.

She was the last surviving of W.E. Upjohn's 11 grandchildren.

Parfet was chairwoman of the board of Gilmore Bros. Department Store, which was long-time fixture in downtown Kalamazoo. She also served as president of the Kalamazoo Foundation, now known as the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.

She was on the board of the Kalamazoo Nature Center in its early years and remained active with the organization for many years.

She married Ray T. "Ted" Parfet in 1945. They had four children, William, Donald, Sally and Jane, 10 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. Ted Parfet was named president and general manager of The Upjohn Co. in 1962, then promoted to chairman and CEO from 1969 to 1987. He died in 2006 at age 84.

Martha Parfet was recipient the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award in 1991.

"Mrs. Parfet has inspired every person or project she has been a part of," Maury Reed, a former Western Michigan University told the Kalamazoo Gazette in 1991 when Parfet was honored by the YWCA. "She inspires, encourages and makes people feel good about themselves. She is task-oriented and achieves results -- a highly energetic catalyst to action."

Parfet told the Gazette in 1991: "I guess I took a proactive stance before that term came into general use. To me it means an invitation to make things better. I enjoy that type of challenge."

Parfet also spent 11 years helping to get a sewer system on Gull Lake. Her son said it's among her proudest accomplishments because she could see a noticeable change after the sewer line was constructed.

"We needed a sewer system because were polluting the lake," she told the Gazette in 1991. "It took lots of people and a lot of shared information, but we did it. It is one of the things I am most pleased with. It has made a difference in the quality of the lake."

Parfet's family influence can be felt in several Kalamazoo community institutions, including the Kalamazoo Wings hockey team, which she and Ted founded in 1974 and owned for many years.

The Kalamazoo Community Foundation was started with a donation from W.E. Upjohn. When he died, he left half of his wealth, $1.3 million to the community. Today, that gift would be valued at more than $22 million. Most recently, Kalamazoo added the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus of the Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine.

In recent years, Parfet wrote a two-volume family history book, titled "Keep the Quality Up," taken from an Upjohn Co. motto.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Farley-Estes & Dowdle Funeral Home in Richland.