Weider was the god father of the fitness craze currently sweeping the US.
The multimillion-dollar publishing empire he built included Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Shape, and Men’s Fitness magazines.He created the Mr. Olympia event in 1965. He discovered
Schwarzenegger at a body-building contest in Europe, brought him to America, and got into films with the execrable but still laughable "Hercules Goes Bananas".
He died at 93 of heart failure.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-joe-weider-legendary-bodybuilding-and-fitness-icon-dies-at-93-20130323,0,6121077.storyThat much the article says about his influence, which was quite considerable, but my memory tells me Weider also developed some fitness equipment which had some widespread popularity.
