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Notable Passings and other milestones

Some of them may not be worthy of their own thread....


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Fitness guru Richard Simmons dead at 76 - Los Angeles Times

Richard Simmons, the colorful fitness guru who turned aerobics dancing and positive energy into decades of fame, died Saturday, law enforcement sources said. He was 76.

Simmons was found at his home, and there was no evidence of foul play, sources told The Times.

Simmons specialized in helping obese people lose weight, starting with a Los Angeles fitness studio and eventually making appearances on TV shows, including a popular stint on “General Hospital.”
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If a 'fitness guru' dies at 76, it makes you wonder about the value of their advice, doesn't it?

I'm reminded of various forms of:

"We called them 'guru' because charlatan doesn't fit into a headline"

or "... because they can't spell charlatan"
 
novaphile said:
If a 'fitness guru' dies at 76, it makes you wonder about the value of their advice, doesn't it?
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No, not really. His advice, his ability to follow his own advice, and his body are all different. I've met too many people that died "young" for all sorts of reasons that I don't want to blame them for. It has been reported that Mr. Simmons died from complications of a fall, but even if he died from something that would normally be associated with a lack of fitness, I don't see that as an indictment of the advice itself.

I might have a problem with the general exploitation of fitness/wellness and how he fit into it, but as a person that was able to encourage some to move their bodies, seems reasonable to me.
 
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novaphile said:
If a 'fitness guru' dies at 76, it makes you wonder about the value of their advice, doesn't it?

I'm reminded of various forms of:

"We called them 'guru' because charlatan doesn't fit into a headline"

or "... because they can't spell charlatan"
Click to expand...

76 seems like a good age for a fitness guru.

What's your prescription for a longer life? Have money? Get lucky?
 
theprestige said:
76 seems like a good age for a fitness guru.

What's your prescription for a longer life? Have money? Get lucky?
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I believe that luck is a large factor in how long we will live.

Looking back, I could have died many times over. Years ago, I was close to being murdered when something unexpected happened to save me. Luck for the most part.
 
CarbShark said:
Some of them may not be worthy of their own thread....


Fitness guru Richard Simmons dead at 76 - Los Angeles Times
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I listened to this podcast series by Dan Taberski recently: Missing Richard Simmons (Apple podcasts).
I became aware of it because Dan Taberski has made an upcoming podcast series, Hysterical (Wondery), about mass hysteria.

The podcast series about Simmons deals with the mystery of his very sudden disappearance ten years ago. I guess that whatever killed him may also have been the reason why he chose to stop all public appearances in 2014.
 
BowlOfRed said:
No, not really. His advice, his ability to follow his own advice, and his body are all different. I've met too many people that died "young" for all sorts of reasons that I don't want to blame them for. It has been reported that Mr. Simmons died from complications of a fall, but even if he died from something that would normally be associated with a lack of fitness, I don't see that as an indictment of the advice itself.

I might have a problem with the general exploitation of fitness/wellness and how he fit into it, but as a person that was able to encourage some to move their bodies, seems reasonable to me.
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I completely agree with everything in this post, except that "complications of a fall" certainly can be related to lack of fitness, specifically in that loss of muscle mass as we age is an important risk factor in falls.

But, as I said I still agree with your post. Everyone, even that healthiest people, have some chance of death at any point in time, and that chance increases with age for all of us. Fitness can mitigate that, but no one thinks it's a panacea, and 76 isn't all that young. If there were some data that people who followed his exercise advice died at a younger age than average that might be suggestive of something (I'd actually guess it was just because he was marketing to already unhealthy people who were getting healthier but still not enough to reach the population average), but a single data point isn't going to tell me much. That he died a couple of years younger than average isn't compelling evidence of anything.

And, yeah, as you say he may not even have been following his own advice.
 
alfaniner said:
James B. Sikking -- Captain Styles of Star Trek III, and Doogie Howser's dad. Among many other roles.
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I'm far and away most familiar with him from Hill Street Blues.

As a big fan of TOS and the movies from that crew, I was embarrassed at how long it took me before I realized that he had played Styles. I blame it on the mustache!
 
Roboramma said:
I completely agree with everything in this post, except that "complications of a fall" certainly can be related to lack of fitness, specifically in that loss of muscle mass as we age is an important risk factor in falls.

But, as I said I still agree with your post. Everyone, even that healthiest people, have some chance of death at any point in time, and that chance increases with age for all of us. Fitness can mitigate that, but no one thinks it's a panacea, and 76 isn't all that young. If there were some data that people who followed his exercise advice died at a younger age than average that might be suggestive of something (I'd actually guess it was just because he was marketing to already unhealthy people who were getting healthier but still not enough to reach the population average), but a single data point isn't going to tell me much. That he died a couple of years younger than average isn't compelling evidence of anything.

And, yeah, as you say he may not even have been following his own advice.
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The classic example is how the guy often credited for the popularisation of jogging, Fixx died of a heart attack at the age of fifty-two whilst doing his daily run. It doesn't mean, despite as I often say, that jogging kills!
 

Bob Newhart, deadpan comic-turned-sitcom star, dies at 94 - Los Angeles Times

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Bob Newhart, the “button-down” stand-up comedy sensation of the 1960s who parlayed his low-key, Everyman demeanor and trademark stammering delivery into sitcom gold as the star of two classic TV series in the 1970s and ’80s, has died in Los Angeles.

...

Newhart won his first acting Emmy Award in 2013 for a guest appearance on the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” In all, he was nominated for nine Emmys.
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