Tuesday, July 13, 2004

RIP Joe Gold

Joe Gold founder of Gold's Gym and World Gym passed away today. This great brother at arms even got a mention on the front page of the WSJ. Here is Ron Harris' take on Joe from a daily email that I receive. Joe seemed like one tough SOB who also got stuff done.

Born in Los Angeles in 1922, Joe Gold was a true bodybuilder whose love of the sport led him to create the modern gym chain operation, which included Gold's Gym and World's Gym. Gold joined the Navy during World War II and was injured during the Battle of Leyte, which took place in the Philippines in 1944. After the war, he joined the merchant marines and sailed around the world for the next 30 years. With every voyage he took a set of weights with him and built a great physique. In 1965, he opened the first Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, welding most of the equipment himself and designing unique machines that were beneficial to the serious competitive bodybuilder. He called it "the first gym made specifically for bodybuilders." Joe sold Gold's Gym in 1970 and resumed his career as a merchant marine. In 1977 Joe decided to open a new gym and so World's Gym was established. Today it is a global franchise, famous throughout the world, and even toward the end of his life, Joe could still be found at the front desk of the Marina Del Rey headquarters.

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