Francois Henri LaLanne was born on 26 September 1914, in San Francisco, California USA, of part-French descent. Jack was a motivational speaker, nutrition and fitness expert, so well known for being the “Godfather of Fitness”. He is considered one of the first personalities to promote health benefits before celebrity promotions came in. All of his efforts helped put his net worth to where it was prior to his passing in 2011.
How rich was Jack LaLanne? As of early-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $15 million, mostly earned through a successful career in fitness. He hosted his own show and opened one of the first fitness gyms in the United States. He was also a successful bodybuilder, and all of these achievements ensured the position of his wealth.
Jack LaLanne Net Worth $15 million
At a young age, Jack was very fond of junk food and sugar; he had violent episodes and was miserable according to his writings, later attributing his negative childhood to the diet he had. He suffered from headaches as well, but after hearing a health food talk from Paul Bragg, was influenced to start focusing on diet and exercise. He later made his high school football team. After matriculating, he attended college in San Francisco, and worked his way to earn a Doctor of Chiropractic degree and focused a lot on bodybuilding as well as weightlifting.
In 1936, LaLanne opened the country’s first health and fitness club in Oakland, California, where he supervised training, gave nutritional advice, and was challenged by many doctors since clubs like these were almost unheard of during the period. He helped design many exercise machines that would become standard in the industry, helping increase his net worth significantly in the process. Membership of the club would grow, and this led him to a brief professional wrestling career two years later, as wrestlers would start to go to the health club regularly.
As his popularity grew, so did his net worth. He made regular appearances on television, and started his own show entitled “The Jack LaLanne Show” which would become the longest running television exercise program. During the show he promoted his gym and health products, stressing a minimalist style of fitness, even just using basic home objects to get people to exercise. Later on, he would publish several books and would make videos about nutrition. He also recorded a song, and would promote exercise equipment as well as vitamin supplements. At the age of 95 years old, he even wrote a book “Live Young Forever” in which he discussed how he maintained his health even at his age.
For his personal life, it is known that LaLanne was married to Elaine Doyle LaLanne for over five decades from 1959, and they had three children accumulatively, one from Jack’s first marriage to Irma Navarre (1942-48) while another was from Elaine’s first marriage, plus a third child they had together. In 2011, Jack passed away from respiratory failure due to pneumonia. He was sick but refused to consult a doctor during the final week of his life. Despite that, he still continued his daily workout routine.
