If you haven't been paying attention to the riots in Tunisia or Egypt, or to the President's State of the Union address, or to Gabriel Giffords, you may have noticed that an American icon, Jack Lalane, is gone.



According to Richard Goldstein of the New York Times Mr. Lalane did some pretty incredible things in his wonderfully long life time of 96 years. Did you know that when he was 60 he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf? That is a distance of a little over a mile. "Not a big deal," you might be thinking, but he was handcuffed and shackled! "Okay, a little bit of a big deal, but come on, not the 'be all-end all' of big deals," you might be thinking now. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he was also towing a 1,000 pound boat.



When he was 70 he did something only slightly more impressive. He swam the mile and a half through Long Beach Harbor, again shackled and handcuffed (which begs the question, how exactly does one swim handcuffed and shackled), this time towing 70 boats along with 70 people.

These examples only highlight his accomplishments later in life. Mr. Lalane accomplished a good many things early on. Let's take a look. There is the fact that he was able to host a successful fitness television show while wearing the most ridiculous jump suit ever seen on a man. There was his juice machine. He convinced scores of people to forgo chewing forever. That's impressive. But maybe his most impressive feat of all was one that was least known.

Jack Lalane managed to get his wife to not only take, but more importantly keep, his last name. Ms. Elaine Lalane, to you, I send my deepest sympathies.