Joe Weider, the legendary figure in bodybuilding, died Saturday of heart failure. Weider founded many of the worlds most popular bodybuilding magazines, including Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Mens Fitness and, for women, Shape.
Weider and his brother Ben also founded the International Federation of Body Builders, which sponsored the Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia contest. On the product side, he developed fitness equipment like the Solid Steel Tricep Bomber and food supplements like Dynamic Muscle Builder protein powder, Carbo Energizer Chewables, Performance Foods and Anabolic Mega-Paks,
While Mr. Weider began as a mail-order entrepreneur, his company by the 1980s was marketing his equipment in 6,000 retail outlets and nutritional products in 12,000 stores in the United States alone. By the 1990s, he was selling in at least 60 countries and grossing hundreds of millions of dollars annually for Weider Americas Total Fitness Company, based in Los Angeles.
He gains particularly credit for bringing Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian bodybuilding champion at the time, to to Los Angeles to endorse Weider products. Weider relentlessly promoted Schwarzenegger in his early years and helped him get into the movie business.
He is survived by his wife.
