Entrepreneur
The Resume
(March 14, 1953-March 19, 2004)
Raised in Toronto, Ontario
Creator of the PowerBar (1986)
World-class marathon runner
Won 14 marathons
Why he might be annoying
Despite being a health nut, he died of a heart attack days after turning just fifty-one.
He had five children.
He jogged just about daily, and jogged the morning he died.
He collapse while on line at a California Post Office (March 19, 2004).
It took three years to develop the PowerBar.
Although he had only one van for the PowerBars, he painted a large seven on one side and a large eleven on the other, so people would think there was a fleet of vans.
Why he might not be annoying
He is credited with creating the sports nutrition business.
Track & Field News ranked him the world's #3 marathoner (1977).
He was a member of the Canadian Olympic team that was forced to boycott the Olympics (1980).
He carried the Canada sign in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
He graduated UCLA, Berkeley (1975).
He won the Brutus Hamilton Award as the outstanding track team student.
He earned a living as a long distance runner for eight years.
He developed stomach problems and it slowed his running down (1983). He began mixing different low-fat concoctions to come up with a fast energy easily-digestible food.
He was assisted by biochemist Bill Vaughn and a food science student, Jennifer Biddulph, who he eventually married.
He began selling PowerBars from his kitchen.
After his friends found his bars gave them extra energy, he decided to use his entire life savings to manufacture 35,000 bars. His investment was $50,000 plus $5,000 from his parents.
Even though he was a entrepreneur, he made sure to spend lots of time with his kids.
He sold PowerBars to Nestle for $375,000,000 (March 2000).
When he sold the company, he had over 300 employees and average annual sales of over $50,000,000.
He supported a number of charities.
Share this link with a friend:
Year In Review:
For 2009, as of last week, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 28 Votes: 60.71% Annoying
In 2007, Out of 65 Votes: 58.46% Annoying
In 2006, Out of 122 Votes: 63.11% Annoying
In 2005, Out of 211 Votes: 55.45% Annoying
In 2004, Out of 274 Votes: 46.35% Annoying
Featured in the following Annoying Collections:
|