Jack LaLanne dead at 96, still plans to put chain around his waist and pull hearse to cemetery
LaLanne died Sunday at his home in Morro Bay on California’s central coast, just up from IHTM. The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.
Today is a day we all thought would never come. Jack LaLanne is dead.
The Associated Press has the sad details:
Jack LaLanne was prodding Americans to get off their couches and into the gym decades before it was cool. And he was still pumping iron and pushing fruits and vegetables decades past most Americans’ retirement age.
Early TV exercise guru Jack LaLanne is dead at 96
The fitness fanatic ate well and exercised – and made it his mission to make sure everyone did the same – right up to the end at age 96, friends and family said.
LaLanne died Sunday at his home in Morro Bay on California’s central coast, longtime agent Rick Hersh said. The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.
“I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but the best friend and most loving partner anyone could ever hope for,” Elaine LaLanne, LaLanne’s wife of 51 years and a frequent partner in his television appearances, said in a written statement.
Note from the Editor: Nine years ago I got a phone call from an elderly friend who had worked in the television business.
“I hear you’re moving to the Central Coast,” he said. “Take down this phone number. I want you to call an old friend of mine who lives there. His name is Jack LaLanne.”
“The Jack LaLanne,” I asked.
“There’s only one Jack LaLanne,” he said.
I’m just not one to bother celebrities. If I see one sitting in a restaurant or walking down the street, I leave them alone. So I never called Jack because I didn’t want to bother him.
Nevertheless, I’ve always carried that phone number around in my wallet. Every once in a while I’d pull it out and think to myself, “Maybe I should call. It would be fun just to have lunch with the guy.” But I never did.
Until very recently, Jack and Elaine had a weekly fitness segment on the local NBC-TV affiliate in our town of San Luis Obispo. He wasn’t quite as strong and limber as he’d been in the past, but still looked great and was sharp as ever.
Today I wish I’d broken my rule. I wish I’d called.
Because as my friend said, “There’s only one Jack LaLanne.”
