Curriculum Vitae
BEN WEIDER, C.M., C.Q., SBStJ, Ph.D.
Since 1945, Ben Weider and his brother Joe have operated Weider Sports Equipment Limited and Weider Health and Fitness in Canada and the United States. These two companies manufacture and sell their products throughout the world.
The Weider organization has fostered the development of a strong and still-growing fitness and strength-conditioning industry which has provided employment for thousands, as well as a refreshing new approach to health and physical well-being.
In addition, Ben and Joe Weider were instrumental in developing the vitamin, mineral, protein and sports nutrition industry.
Ben Weider is the Founder and President of the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB), which he started in Montreal in 1946. The IFBB currently has 171 national affiliates making it one of the world’s largest sporting organizations. Bodybuilding and fitness are considered an important factor in the collective health of citizens.
On the 30 th of January 1998, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted official provisional recognition to the IFBB. This recognition is probably the most important of Ben Weider’s accomplishments after 52 years of determination and persistence.
The IFBB is a member of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the Association of the IOC Recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF), the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education, and the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee.
The IFBB is recognized by the Olympic Council of Asia and the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa. The IFBB is also recognized and participates in the following Games: the Pan American Games, the Southeast Asia Games, the Asian Games, the South American Games, the Central American Games, the Caribbean Games, the Arab Games, the South Pacific Games, the African Games and the World Games. HONORARY DEGREES:
AWARDS AND SPECIAL RECOGNITION :
PUBLICATIONS
Qui a tué Napoléon? (Robert Laffont) The Murder of Napoléon (Congdon Lattes), translated in: Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Czech, German, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, French, Hindi, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian (6 editions, more than 500 000 copies) Slovakia, Sweden, Turkish, Urdu (Pakistan). Assassination at St. Helena (Mitchell Press) Assassination at St. Helena Revisited (John Wiley and Sons) Napoléon est-il mort empoisonné (Les Editions Pygmalion) Napoleon, the Man who Shaped Europe (Spellmount Publishers, London ) La Sagesse de Napoléon (Les Editions Québecor) Napoleon, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (Les éditions Trois Pistoles) Louis Cyr, L’homme le plus fort du monde (six editions, Les Editions Québecor) Les hommes forts du Québec (Les éditions Trois Pistoles) Mangez bien et restez svelte Jeune toute sa vie SPECIAL ACTIVITIES :
Ben Weider is currently President of the International Napoleonic Society, which has branches in 39 countries. His knowledge about the Emperor Napoleon is legendary, and he is a widely sought lecturer on the subject to history students, including those at Moscow University in 1991, and McGill University in 1994. In June 1995, Ben Weider was invited to give a lecture to the officers of SHAPE/NATO at Mons, Belgium. He also lectured at the Sandhurst Military Academy in London, England, and at the Borodino Military Museum in Borodino, Russia.
In 1975, Ben Weider traveled to the island of St. Hélène to visit where Napoleon lived the last years of his life.
In 1995, two books by Ben Weider were included in a two-volume set of Napoleonic history published by the Russian Historical Society. These books, The Murder of Napoleon and La Sagesse de Napoleon, were included along with highlights from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace and a book about Napoleon by Alexandre Dumas. Over 500,000 copies were sold.
In September 1995, the Florida State University created the Ben Weider Eminent Scholar Chair in Napoleonic History. The Florida State University now has the ability to promote Napoleonic history and to encourage students to travel in the context of their Napoleonic research.
In September 1999, Ben Weider gave a lecture to over 200 officers at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters in Montreal, Canada, whereat he explained his research on how he determined that Napoleon was poisoned instead of the official version that he died of cancer. In October 1997, Ben Weider gave a lecture and press conference in Paris, France, organized at the Cultural Centre of the Canadian Embassy on the topic of the poisoning of Napoleon. The French Culture Minister, Mr. Alain Valery Coquerel, was present as well as His Excellency Prince Murat, who gave the opening address.
In September 1997, Ben Weider was a guest of the Russian Parliament to participate in the 350th Anniversary of the founding of Moscow.
In September 1997, Ben Weider was invited by the Director of The State Borodino War and History Museum and Reserve to attend the 185 th Anniversary of the 1812 Battle of Borodino. Prior to the re-enactment, Ben Weider addressed 100,000 Russian spectators who witnessed this event of the battle between the French, under the leadership of Napoleon, and the Russians, under the leadership of General Kutusov. Ben Weider also gave a conference to the Russian historians about the poisoning of Napoleon.
In February 1997, Ben Weider was the keynote speaker at the 27th Consortium on Revolutionary Europe , which was organized by the Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
In March 1996, Ben Weider was the keynote speaker on “The Assassination of Napoleon at St. Helena during his exile” at the 26th Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, held under the auspices of the Georgia Southern University, in Savannah, Georgia, USA.
In his more than forty years in the field of fitness and sports, Ben Weider has become an international authority figure whose philosophy, books, courses, nutritional findings and reports on athletic performance and general fitness have been recognized throughout the world.
Through his foundation Ben Weider has made major contributions to international sport and has been a generous contributor and supporter of fitness programs in many countries. He has donated complete training gyms with state-of-the-art equipment to encourage young people and assist institutions involved in sports research and training. Gyms have been donated in the following countries: United States of America, Canada, Germany (namely the University of Cologne ), Lebanon, Syria, Israel (namely the Israeli Olympic committee), the People’s Republic of China, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine.
A complete state-of-the-art Weider gym was donated in August 1994, to the Los Angeles Police Department. Ben and Joe Weider also donated bodybuilding gyms to each of the 18 police stations throughout Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department made Ben and Joe Honorary Physical Education Instructors of the Police Department.
Fully-equipped Weider gyms were also donated to the following non-profit organizations: The Canadian Institute for Neuro-Integrative Development (Montreal), Stanstead College (Stanstead, Quebec), Lower Canada College (Montreal), McGill University (Montreal), Allan Memorial Juvenile Division of the Royal Victoria Hospital (Montreal), Portage Foundation Drug Rehabilitation Centre (Montreal), Lower Canada College Selwyn House (Montreal), Centre Immaculee-Conception (Montreal), Youth for Christ (Winnipeg) and CEGEP Edouard Montpetit (Longueuil).
In 1998, Ben Weider donated complete, up-to-date, state-of-the-art physical fitness and bodybuilding gyms to the City Hall in Tel Aviv, Israel; the Israeli Army Fitness Centre; the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education and Sport; the Lebanese Olympic Committee, and the Quebec Police Training School in Nicolet, Quebec, Canada (Ben Weider was the honorary president of the ceremony).
Ben Weider has always been a supporter of the YMHA, having supplied them with equipment for bodybuilding gyms and having supported them financially in all of their campaigns. In order to honor Ben Weider, the Montreal Jewish Community Centre decided to change its name to the “Ben Weider Jewish Community Centre”.
Also, because of Ben Weider’s generous support for the Bais Chaya Mushuka Seminary, their new educational centre is presently called the “Ben Weider Educational Centre”.
Ben Weider supports the “Theatre du grand jour”. This is a group of young French Canadian Artists who create and produce plays throughout the year.
In 1999, Ben Weider helped raise funds and made a personal generous donation to Jean Claude Cardinal Turcotte of Montreal, when the main Cathedral was being renovated for the first time in over 100 years.
Ben Weider is most certainly a “citizen of the world”. |
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