Tributes have been flooding in following the passing of Joe Gold earlier this week.  Here is a selection of them, headed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then follows a personal tribute by Wayne R Gallasch, President of GMV Productions, and finally the Press Release received today.

Governor Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on Death of Joe Gold of World's Gym

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement regarding the death of Joe Gold, founder of Gold's Gym and World's Gym:

"I am deeply saddened to learn of Joe Gold's death. Joe was a trusted friend and father figure and was instrumental in my training during my days as a bodybuilder. Gold's Gym was not only a training facility but it became a home to me. Joe was an inspiration to many and his death is felt deeply in the entire health and fitness community.

"In 1968 when I came to America, Gold's Gym was the gym where I first went to work out. Joe looked after me and encouraged me, and his dry sense of humor was a daily feature of the gym.

"Joe Gold was a bodybuilding legend, a pioneer, but above all, deep in his heart, he was a bodybuilding fan. The world will be the poorer for his loss. I will miss him as a dear friend of 36 years."

Born in Los Angeles in 1922, Joe Gold was a true bodybuilder whose love of the sport led him to create the modern gym chain operation, which included Gold's Gym and World's Gym.  Gold joined the Navy during World War II and was injured during the Battle of Leyte, which took place in the Philippines in 1944. After the war, he joined the merchant marines and sailed around the world for the next 30 years. With every voyage he took a set of weights with him and built a great physique.  In 1965, he opened the first Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, welding most of the equipment himself and designing unique machines that were beneficial to the serious competitive bodybuilder.  He called it "the first gym made specifically for bodybuilders." Joe sold Gold's Gym in 1970 and resumed his career as a merchant marine. In 1977 Joe decided to open a new gym and so World's Gym was established. Today it is a global franchise, famous throughout the world, and even toward the end of his life, Joe could still be found at the front desk of the Marina Del Rey headquarters.

Photo By Kevin Krolicki 1954

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I first met Joe in 1977 when he opened World Gym in Santa Monica. I found many of my famous models there, the first one being Ed Giuliani, Joe's long time gym manager and very dear friend. The list goes on and on, too numerous to list here. Joe always gave me every encouragement and assistance in my work and always made the gym available to me for filming of movies or for photography. 

Joe Gold, founder of Gold's Gym, dies

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Joe Gold, who founded a gym made famous by then-bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger

and expanded it into sprawling fitness chain, has died.

 

Dave Reiseman, a spokesman for Gold's Gyms, confirmed Monday that its founder had died. He had no

further information.

 

Gov. Schwarzenegger issued a statement in which he called Gold "a trusted friend and father figure." He

said that Gold was born in 1922 in Los Angeles.

 

"In 1968, when I came to America, Gold's Gym was the gym where I first went to work out. Joe looked after me

and encouraged me, and his dry sense of humor was a daily feature of the gym," Schwarzenegger said.

Before become an actor and politician, Schwarzenegger's appearance in the 1977 movie "Pumping Iron"

helped make Gold's Gym in the Venice section of Los Angeles a destination for bodybuilders.

A bodybuilder himself, Gold founded his first gym in 1965 in Venice, which remained his headquarters as

the gym expanded to other locations.

 

"Joe Gold was a bodybuilding legend, a pioneer, but above all, deep in his heart, he was a bodybuilding fan,"

Schwarzenegger said.

 

Gold's Gym expanded its reach to 43 states and 25 countries. Gold's also licenses the Gold's name for

health-related products, such as apparel, exercise equipment and food and drink supplements.

 

Schwarzenegger in his statement said that Gold sold Gold's Gym in 1970 and in 1977 opened a new gym by

establishing World's Gym.

 

Gold's Gym was acquired in 1999 by Brockway Moran & Partners, Inc., a Florida-based private equity firm.

The company announced last month that it had agreed to sell Gold's Gym International Inc. to TRT Holdings, Inc., which

also owns the Omni Hotel chain. Gold's Gym International has 2.5 million members.