Maximum Fit Magazine

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=235b0678-ada...       Ben Weider dies at 85             The Gazette       Saturday, October 18, 2008       MONTREAL - Ben Weider, Montreal's baron of body building, who became an internationally renowned Napoleonic scholar and philanthropist, died Friday at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.       His death comes six days before he was to inagurate the permanent gallery housing his multi-million dollar Napoleon collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.       He was 85.       The funeral will be 1 p.m. Monday at Papermans.       Weider  published several books on Napoleon and contended that the French Emperor was poisoned in exile on St. Helena.       In his more than sixty years of involvement in bodybuilding, as Founding President of the International Brotherhood of Body Builders (I.F.B.B.),. Weider  and his older brother Joe anticipated, then led, the worldwide fitness revolution and legitimized the sport of bodybuilding.       The I.F.B.B., founded by the Weiders in 1946, has 173 member national federations worldwide and sanctions thousands of amateur and professional competitive events.       I don't know of anyone who, starting with nothing, who did  as much as he did. He was downright heroic, said his biographer, Mike Steere. To do what he did, to accomplish what he did in face of poverty and prejudice, is nothing short of heroic.       Ben Weider was born in Montreal Feb. 1, 1923, to  Jewish Polish immigrants. He and his brother Joe dropped out of grade school to support the family and worked in garment sweatshops and restaurants before he enlisted  in the Canadian Army and serving during World War II.       Originally, Weider  wanted to be an architect, but because he was Jewish, he was denied entry-level positions in Montreal architecture firms,. He worked with his brother Joe to put out a physique magazine and helped him operate his mail-order business in weight lifting equipment.       Ben became the promoter and producer of physique contests and traveled the world as an ambassador of bodybuilding, introducing the sport overseas and organizing new national federations of the I.F.B.B. In 1947, Joe moved to New Jersey, later moving the U.S. Weider enterprises to Southern California, while Ben remained in  Montreal.       Weider is survived by his wife, Huguette Drouin, and their three  sons Louis, Eric, and Mark.       Š The Gazette 2008