Fitness guru Jack LaLanne dead at 96
According to his long-time agent, Rick Hersh, Jack LaLanne died at his home in Morro Bay (1) California on Sunday afternoon, of respiratory failure from pneumonia at age 96. His wife of 51 years, Elaine, and family and friends were at his side.
François Henri “Jack” LaLanne was born in San Francisco on September 26, 1914. LaLanne said that he was a sugar-and-junk-food addict as a child, then later studied bodybuilding and weight-lifting in his teens. After graduating from high school, LaLanne attended night classes at Oakland Chiropractic College and graduated with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. He opened a health spa in Oakland, California in 1936, years before fitness fanaticism swept America. LaLanne invented the world’s first leg-extension machine and several other pieces of fitness equipment that are now standards in the industry.
From the 1950s through the 1980s, performed many feats of endurance and physical strength, including an underwater swim the length of the Golden Gate Bridge carrying 140 pounds of equipment in 1954, swimming from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco while handcuffed in 1955, completing over 1000 pushups in a little over 20 minutes in 1956, and towing 65 boats filled with thousands of pounds of wood pulp in Japan.
On TV, the “Jack LaLanne Show” was first broadcast nationally in 1959 and ran for 30 years. LaLanne also made many appearances on the CNN’s “Larry King Live.” LaLanne inspired seniors with his ability to keep on going.
LaLanne often said, “I can’t die, it would ruin my image.”
He has passed on, with his image still intact.
-Bill at
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