1. Ben Weider co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders alongside his brother Joe Weider.
18 Facts About Ben Weider
1. 2.
Ben Weider wrote several books about Napoleon, including best seller The Murder of Napoleon, translated to 45 languages.
3.
Benjamin Weider was born 1 February 1923 in the old Jewish immigrant quarter of Montreal, the third son of Louis and Anna Weider, Polish Jewish emigrants from the town of Kurow.
4.
Ben Weider left school at 13 to work in restaurants and factories.
5.
Ben Weider served in the Canadian Army during World War II.
6.
Ben Weider co-founded and ran a physical fitness and sporting goods business from Montreal with his brother, which bears their family name.
7.
Ben Weider opened a number of gyms around the world, including in Lebanon.
8.
Ben Weider was known as an advocate of the theory that Napoleon was assassinated with arsenic poisoning by a member of his entourage during his exile in Saint Helena.
9.
Ben Weider had even obtained authenticated Napoleon hair samples and arranged for forensic tests that showed that Napoleon had been poisoned with arsenic.
10.
Ben Weider co-authored several Napoleonic history books including, Assassination at St Helena, Assassination at St Helena Revisited and The Murder of Napoleon.
11.
Ben Weider founded the International Napoleonic Society, of which he was the president, and wrote numerous articles for this organization.
12.
Ben Weider donated this collection to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, making it one of the largest collections of its kind in the world.
13.
Ben Weider financially assisted the rebuilding of Montreal's Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral.
14.
Jean-Claude Turcotte, the Roman Catholic Cardinal, said of him that Ben Weider was "One of the greatest Montrealers I ever knew".
15.
Ben Weider was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1975, a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2000, a Knight of the French Legion of Honor on 12 October 2000, a member of the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame, and a Commander of the Venerable Order of St John.
16.
In 1984, Ben Weider was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize.
17.
From 1998 to 2005, Ben Weider was Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the 62nd Field Artillery Regiment, RCA.
18.
Ben Weider died on October 17,2008, at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.