Joe Weider Death: Fitness Titan Passes Away Of Heart Failure At 93
Joe Weider, the founder of the International Federation of Bodybuilders which sponsored both the Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia competitions, passed away of heart failure Saturday at the age of 93.
Weider also founded many of the top bodybuilding and fitness magazines that are published today, such as Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Men's Fitness and Shape. In 2003, he sold his magazines to American Media for $350 million. He founded his first magazine, Your Physique, in 1940.
Weider worked closely with former bodybuilding and action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The New York Times, Weider set Schwarzenegger up in Los Angeles and paid him $100 a week to pen articles that featured Weider's products. Schwarzenegger won the Mr. Olympia title seven times; he took home the award in every year from 1970 to 1975 and then won it again in 1980. His publicist, Charlotte Parker, told Reuters that "He [Weider] saw a lot in Arnold. He felt that the sport needed a star and right away he could see that Arnold was something special."
In a statement, Schwarzenegger said "He advised me on my training, on my business ventures, and once, bizarrely, claimed I was a German Shakespearean actor to get me my first acting role in 'Hercules in New York,' even though I barely spoke English. He was there for me constantly throughout my life, and I will miss him dearly."
Weider got into bodybuilding because he was tired of being picked on by his larger peers. In an autobiography titled Brothers of Iron Weider is quoted as saying "I got sick and tired of putting my head down and walking away to avoid trouble. Skin and bones. That's all I was. I needed some muscle." He entered the world of bodybuilding to rectify his situation and claimed in the book that by the time he was 16 years old, he could bench press 330 pounds.
