MAC icon and fitness advocate Joe Loprinzi passes away at 95

PORTLAND, Ore. – Longtime fitness enthusiast and local exercise television show host Joe Loprinzi died Wednesday at his home in Portland. He was 95.

No cause of death was announced. Loprinzi was married and had two daughters and one grandchild.

Loprinzi, long associated with the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland where he worked from 1937 to 1997, was a Portland native and World War II veteran.

Early in life, Loprinzi and his older brother reportedly made homemade weights after seeing a strongman at a traveling show.

A fitness, running and weightlifting advocate long before such pursuits became mainstream in the United States, Loprinzi was also a friend and contemporary of fitness maven Jack Lallane.

Loprinzi hosted televised fitness segments on a popular morning show on Portland TV station KGW in the 1960s and 1970s.

But Loprinzi was best known as a fitness ambassador at the Multnomah Athletic Club where he worked for 60 years.

His impact was so great that when the club added a major new wing to their facility in 1997, it was named the Loprinzi Wing.

A large artistic representation of Loprinzi, quotes from friends and from Joe himself cover a large wall near the entrance to the wing. A running joke in the club, which has thousands of members, was that 9 out of 10 people there knew Loprinzi.

Former club President Phil Brown said in an email sent out to club members Wednesday, "I've never known anyone who didn't love Joe. He touched so many lives in such a positive way."

More recently, a restaurant in the club was also named for Loprinzi. The club also gives an annual award named after Loprinzi. There is also a scholarship in his name.

"Joe was a man of genuine, boundless optimism.” Tom Walsh, longtime MAC member and friend of Joe said in an email “he conveyed that to you with quiet enthusiasm. There was simply no greater praise than a soft 'Good job!' coming from Joe.”

Loprinzi even helped this reporter decades ago with a fitness regimen that I follow to this day.

Funeral details were not immediately announced.

You can read more details about Joe Loprinzi’s life here.