Fitness icon Jack LaLanne dies at 96 — one of my favorite subjects
Jack LaLanne died today at his Morro Bay home at age 96, according to press reports. What a character and what a loss. He didn’t do masters track, but he was a hero to many of us, especially those who remember his TV show of the 1950s and 1960s. My wife and I, plus son Bobby, visited him about six years ago at his home. Chris was on photo assignment from GeezerJock magazine. He was “on.” A showman who took Chris into his arms and danced. He and his wife, Elaine, were gracious hosts, and said farewell by giving us an armload of souvenirs — ballcaps, pens, autographed photo (see below) and other items. He was funny and totally focused on our project. RIP, Jack.
Chris took photos of Jack with our old manual Nikon single-lens film cameras. He posed in his packed gym and also on the veranda of his Central California home. When a publicist greeted us, she took us into the large living room of his ranch style house. He was on the couch watching “Oprah.”
My treasured photo of Chris Stone and Jack LaLanne, two peas in a pod, next to his pool in Morro Bay, California, in the summer of (about) 2005.
But once there, he gave us his complete attention. I asked him whether he’d try masters track. (He would have been an M90 force in the throws.) He said he was superbusy promoting his juicer and visiting friends around the world. Understood.
But he worked out daily, religiously.
I hope his memorial service is held in the biggest stadium possible. It would have to be that big to accommodate his friends and fans.
12 Responses
Such a loss! Great reminiscing for you… thanks for sharing! Lucky you to do the Geezerjock story!
Sad news. Jack LaLanne inspired a lot of us. His ocean feats were/are mind boggling. His training, alone, was sensational. Never heard of him? Get to Google. God bless, Jack. Smartty
I remember in the early 1970s watching Jack LaLanne swim from Alcatraz Island handcuffed and towing a boat. I think he must have around 60 at the time. Amazing man.
Jack LaLanne was an amazing man and an inspiration. He showed older people that they could be fit and vital over an entire lifetime.
Some of us were fortunate to watch Jack on television way back in the 60’s. I loved his innovative mindset and his caring heart. I never met Jack but I would have enjoyed meeting him, no doubt. I always wanted one of those jumpsuits of his! What a life he lived. He will be missed.
Jack was so far ahead of his time. I miss him already. One of my favorite Jack quotes “Would you get your dog up in the morning for coffee and a donut?” R.I.P.
Ken you were very fortunate. Jack LaLanne was always one of heros. When I was coaching in the 60’s and weight lifting wasn’t that accepted for athletes I was influenced by him to start a weight program and it payrd off dearly.
It even was on the news page of the dutch television. (I must confess i’d never heard of him…)
When I was a kid I lived in the same town as Jack, Alameda, Ca. Every year on his birthday he would do some sort of stunt to celebrate. I remember one such stunt was to swim around the island towing a rowboat full of men by a rope held in his teeth. If I remember another, it was to to barefoot waterski around the island. He was never short on ideas to promote fitness.
Mr LaLane lived on a houseboat that was moored between Oakland and Alameda. Coincidentally, there was an Alameda housewife who was trying to break in to show business at about the same time that Jack became popular, by the name of Phyllis Diller.
RIP Jack.
Thank you Jack. My fitness hero.
He inspired me to set World records. It was amazing to meet him in face to face. What a pioneer. He was able to overcome the negative and was always so positive. Even when his own father questioned why he worked out, he never quit. Jack added years to his life, but added thousands of years to everyone else’s lives.
As a tyke in the 60’s in the S.F. Bay Area, I remember doing jumping jacks and stretching with my mom watching Jack LaLanne on Channel 2. For a long time I thought he invented jumping jacks! He taught me how to listen to what my body was saying and by giving yourself the best treatment, eating right and exercising, you can be your best for others. Prayers to Elaine and family.
another Jack tribute…
Editor’s note: Dr. Mark Lachs is professor of medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and director of geriatrics for the New York Presbyterian Health Care System. He is the author of “Treat Me, Not My Age: A Doctor’s Guide for Getting the Best Health Care as You or A Loved One Gets Older” (Viking Penguin 2010).
(CNN) — It was the 1950s, and we were getting fatter, lazier and puffing away on cigarettes (often as the coda to a meal filled with saturated fats). Then along comes this lone, indefatigable voice telling us — with great kindness — to cut it out.
I’m not exactly sure why Jack LaLanne’s message resonated so well way back then. Maybe it was because he looked like your gym teacher but was way nicer. Maybe it was his “American” sensibility — the can-do attitude, the upbeat affability, even his fun sense of entrepreneurism. Whatever the recipe, I would argue that every modern-day advance in exercise and nutrition is somehow derivative of this pioneer’s work and vision.
But as an internist who specializes in geriatric medicine, I believe that one of the great values of LaLanne’s later life and message is that he embodied many important attributes of healthy aging. LaLanne was a force of nature till his death on Sunday at 96.
Back when LaLanne began his TV exercise show, older adults with and without disabilities (which in that epoch, started around 50) were told by their doctors to slow down and stop exercising. Of course, he would have none of it.
Five decades later, hundreds of studies demonstrate the positive benefits of exercise and mobility on everything from depression to fall prevention. He was the original “use it or lose it” guy, correctly preaching to us that things in motion tend to stay in motion, and things (and people) that don’t will stop, or worse.
LaLanne was essentially telling us to maintain what gerontologists call “physiologic reserve,” making sure that the extra capacity we’re given at birth is available to support our unprecedented longevity, which is a very recent development.
What else did LaLanne demonstrate? A sense of purpose and adaptive social integration.
The arc of the Jack LaLanne story was consistent over his lifetime; for him it was getting us fit. It gave his life meaning and purpose.
I see this repeatedly in my older patients — one or two interests that continues to “turn their gears” as one of my 98-year-olds likes to say. It really doesn’t matter what that “it” is as long as there’s something.
And the adaptive social integration? While social networks shrink with aging for many, his seemed to grow as he transformed his message for a changing world.
Sure, his TV show in the 1950s was revolutionary, but so were his juicing infomercials and many of his other ventures that continued to connect us to him and vice versa. How many 96-year-olds do you know with a Facebook page? (Today, it features an avalanche of tributes from adoring fans.)
In an age of cynicism for celebrities, he was the rare exception who didn’t seem to have a hypocritical bone (or muscle) in his body. He was the lifelong friend who, quite literally, “walked the walk” for nearly a century. An American original.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mark Lachs.
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