The housewife, whose own battles with her weight led her to set up Weight Watchers, has died at the age of 91.
The weight loss empire announced the death of Jean Nidetch, who came up with a system for losing weight gradually with the help of a group of friends in 1963.Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1923, Nidetch tried and failed throughout her early life to keep her weight under control, and years of binge-eating and fad diets left her weighing more than 90kg before her 40th birthday.
The approach she devised - charting progress and offering encouragement to friends at regular meetings - helped her to lose 33kg.
The idea caught on in the United States, and beyond and today the company she started in her New York home is the world's most successful commercial provider of weight management services, with a huge global network of franchises and products and millions of devotees.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
