Aging in Place: The Death of a Fitness Icon
…To know one life has breathed easier because you have lived…This is to have succeeded.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Joe Loprinzi passed away yesterday at the age of 95. Ironically I posted the story Aging in Place at Loprinzi’s on that same day, not knowing his life was coming to an end.
Joe was a pioneer in the fitness industry and like Jack LaLane; he knew the benefits of working out nearly 50 years before Richard Simmons ever poured himself into spandex.
Many boomer kids wanted to be like Charles Atlas who promised:
“I can make you a new man, too, in only 15 minutes a day!”
Playing on childhood insecurities about manhood, and fearing getting sand kicked in their face, hoards of pimple-ridden youngsters sent in for a cure to being skinny. The goal was to look like Joe or Jack. What I came to realize is that it was a life-time commitment.
Joe Loprinzi was a kind man who taught by example and was an ambassador for health who touched many lives directly and indirectly—including mine.
It’s beyond poetic irony but as I write this post I’m off to Loprenzi’s gym to work out…like I do every week. Today I will take a moment of reflection and give thanks to a man whose influence lives on.
Joe Loprinzi succeeded in a life well lived…
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